


































y o* 


4 . 


V ^ 



o 

* 4 ? V 


> ^ » 

4 ° ^ '. 

//" 


„ A o* . 

* O * 

, ...» ^ O' * 

* * ^*V \V 

o 



'**.'.<•* V* 

'. % A? 0*^ % V 

, v/*V e ^ 5 !felC VV 
aV^ oW‘ ^n. 

. ,s s -A <r* 'o.*- .o” 

& ^ t 9 B ^ * rs v + 0*0 

0 ' <?> V ^ *"'*'^ . * 0 * 0 ° 

^ * 1 • O* C\ S* ••'* ^ V 9 » • <V 4 . 

" ^ * ’'P „ x ** .A X *p „ x“D 

-» o \V"\ 

* • S£FtJ^| •» A V VV 

■ 0 A Vi* V ^ 



C\ AV 

° A * 

• *o 

* ° 



,A A ► 

• v. a/ ♦ . 

V^ v 


* <*S 

* “V 



C\ 4 p > .•£*♦ 

^Vv <& * * 

\ Xf> <£* • 

• a v ^ o‘ y 

V o r * 



. $p ^ " 

^ n 0 * V'^o* *' 

® N O ' A> **< 1 ' A® \ * 8 "0 / 

^ A » . 0<r ^c> A $ V *>**'* V V 

^ • *?> A®’ ^ A, * 

n, A* * SSI® * ^ A^ ♦ J 

S* , C 3 'S'_ Z o aV^> «£ ^ 

* A V v\ o^V JJpAf * A? V, < A ® 

^ ^ * (T^ 4 .^v V^ , ^ 


A*/* - 

* A? • 





A^ V . 1 ' * * 

A^ /jTffffikA* 'Kp A 




o ^r.s 5 

O 0 * 0 * ^ 

y 6 — % ° 0 A 

o fc- ^ 0 i^ ; 



* O. > * \Q 'T^j 

® <y ** * <AwWs * A " 

A %.*••' A 0 <> 

■ * V s ■ <r^ V ^ * * r^ * Ay , * ”* 

' ^ " -‘^'- %/ #& \/ . 

r - ,<^ n :^c^o aV^ 

* ■* *- %.W T ,- A. ^ «... 




* V %* - 



% A ' <\ *'<T. 7 * <G* T c> w 

/ .-^, %> o° .‘J^% °o> 







. ■» n 


bv* ^d* 

,• A 1 

y- • <i.r O 

*■ - J _ O y,V O 



















THE 

LOUD WATER 
MYSTERY 


THE BORZOI 
MYSTERY STORIES 

“ These ‘ mystery ’ books are about 
the best of their kind in circulation.” 

— Knickerbocker Press. 

I. THE WHITE ROOK 

By J. B. Harris-Burland 

II. THE SOLITARY HOUSE 

By E. R. Punshon 

III. THE SHADOW OF MALREWARD 

By J. B. Harris-Burland 

IV. THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER 

By J. S. Fletcher 

V. THE TALLEYRAND MAXIM 

By J. S. Fletcher 

VI. THE PATHWAY OF ADVENTURE 

By Ross Tyrell 

VII. THE PARADISE MYSTERY 

By J. S. Fletcher 

VIII. THE WHISPERING DEAD 

By Alfred Ganachilly 

IX. DEAD MEN’S MONEY 

By J. S. Fletcher 

X. THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

By Edgar Jepson 



THE 

LOUDWATER 

MYSTERY 


BY 

EDGAR JEPSON 

»» 



NEW YORK 

ALFRED • A • KNOPF 

MCMXX 


COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY 
ALFRED A. KNOPF, Ino. 







OCT - 1 1920 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OE AMERICA 


© Cl. A 6 0 1 9 0 9 


■vc r 


THE 

LOUD WATER 
MYSTERY 



CHAPTER I 



ORD LOUD WATER was paying attention 


neither to his breakfast nor to the cat Mel- 
chisidec. Absorbed in a leader in The Times 


newspaper, now and again he tugged at his red-brown 
beard in order to quicken his comprehension of the 
weighty phrases of the leader-writer; now and again 
he made noises, chiefly with his nose, expressive of 
disgust. Lady Loudwater paid no attention to these 
noises. She did not even raise her eyes to her hus- 
band’s face. She ate her breakfast with a thought- 
ful air, her brow puckered by a faint frown. 

She also paid no attention to her favourite, Mel- 
chisidec. Melchisidec, unduly excited by the smell 
of grilled sole, came to Lord Loudwater, rose on his 
hind legs, laid his paws on his trousers, and stuck 
some claws into his thigh. It was no more than gen- 
tle, arresting pricks ; but the tender nobleman sprang 
from his chair with a short howl, kicked with futile 
violence a portion of the empty air which Melchisidec 
had just vacated, staggered, and nearly fell. 

Lady Loudwater did not laugh ; but she did cough. 

Her husband, his face a furious crimson, glared 
at her with reddish eyes, and swore violently at her 
and the cat. 


7 


8 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Lady Loudwater rose, her face flushed, her lips 
trembling, picked up Melchisidec, and walked out 
of the room. Lord Loudwater scowled at the closed 
door, sat down, and went on with his breakfast. 

James Hutchings, the butler, came quietly into the 
room, took one of the smaller dishes from the side- 
board and Lady Loudwater’s teapot from the table. 
He went quietly out of the room, pausing at the door 
to scowl at his master’s back. Lady Loudwater fin- 
ished her breakfast in the sitting-room of her suite 
of rooms on the first floor. She was no longer in- 
attentive to Melchisidec. 

During her breakfast she put all consideration of 
her husband’s behaviour out of her mind. As she 
smoked a cigarette after breakfast she considered 
it for a little while. She often had to consider it. 
She came to the conclusion to which she had often 
come before: that she owed him nothing whatever. 
She came to the further conclusion that she detested 
him. She had far too good a brow not to be able 
to see a fact clearly. She wished more heartily 
than ever that she had never married him. It had 
been a grievous mistake; and it seemed likely to 
last a life-time — her life-time. The last five an- 
cestors of her husband had lived to be eighty. His 
father would doubtless have lived to be eighty too, 
had he not broken his neck in the hunting-field at 
the age of fifty-four. On the other hand, none of 
the Quaintons, her own family, had reached the age 


THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 9 

of sixty. Lord Loudwater was thirty-five; she was 
twenty-two ; he would therefore survive her by at 
least seven years. She would certainly be bowed 
down all her life under this grievous burden. 

It was an odd calculation for a young married 
woman to make; but Lady Loudwater came of an 
uncommon family, which had produced more brilliant, 
irresponsible, and passably unscrupulous men than 
any other of the leading families in England. Her 
father had been one of them. She took after him. 
Moreover, Lord Loudwater would have induced odd 
reveries in any wife. He had been intolerable since 
the second week of their honeymoon. Wholly with- 
out power of self-restraint, the furious outbursts of 
his vile temper had been consistently revolting. She 
once more told herself that something would have 
to be done about it — not on the instant, however. 
At the moment there appeared to her to be months 
to do it in. She dropped her cigarette end into the 
ash-tray, and with it any further consideration of 
the manners and disposition of Lord Loudwater. 

She lit another cigarette and let her thoughts turn 
to that far more appealing subject, Colonel Antony 
Grey. They turned to him readily and wholly. In 
less than three minutes she was seeing his face and 
hearing certain tones in his voice with amazing clear- 
ness. Once she looked at the clock impatiently. It 
was half-past ten. She would not see him till three 
— four and a half hours. It seemed a long while 


10 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

to her. However, she could go on thinking about 
him. She did. 

While she considered her ill-tempered husband 
her eyes had been hard and almost shallow. While 
she considered Colonel Grey, they grew soft and 
deep. Her lips had been set and almost thin; now 
they grew most kissable. 

Lord Loudwater finished his breakfast, the scowl 
on his face fading slowly to a frown. He lit a cigar 
and with a moody air went to his smoking-room. 
The criminal carelessness of the cat Melchisidec still 
rankled. 

As he entered the room, half office and half smok- 
ing-room, Mr. Herbert Manley, his secretary, bade 
him good morning. Lord Loudwater returned his 
greeting with a scowl. 

Mr. Herbert Manley had one of those faces which 
begin well and end badly. He had a fine forehead, 
lofty and broad, a well-cut, gently-curving nose, a 
slack, thick-lipped mouth, always a little open, a 
heavy, animal jaw, and the chin of an eagle. His 
fine, black hair was thin on the temples. His mous- 
tache was thin and straggled. His black eyes were 
as good as his brow, intelligent, observant, and alert. 
It was plain that had his lips been thinner and his 
chin larger he would not have been the secretary of 
Lord Loudwater — or of any one else. He would 
have been a masterless man. The success of two one- 
act plays on the stage of the music-halls had given 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 11 

him the firm hope of one day becoming a masterless 
man as a successful dramatist. His post gave him 
the leisure to write plays. But for the fact that it 
brought him into such frequent contact with the 
Lord Loudwater it would have been a really pleasant 
post: the food was excellent; the wine was good; the 
library was passable; and the servants, with the ex- 
ception of James Hutchings, liked and respected him. 
He had the art of making himself valued (at far more 
than his real worth, said his enemies), and his air of 
importance continuously impressed them. 

With a patient air he began to discuss the morn- 
ing’s letters, and ask for instructions. Lord Loud- 
water was, as often happened, uncommonly captious 
about the letters. He had not recovered from the 
shock the inconsiderate Melchisidec had given his 
nerves. The instructions he gave were somewhat 
muddled ; and when Mr. Manley tried to get them 
clearer, his employer swore at him for an idiot. Mr. 
Manley persisted firmly through much abuse till he 
did get them clear. He had come to consider his 
employer’s furies an unfortunate weakness which had 
to be endured by the holder of the post he found so 
advantageous. He endured them with what stoicism 
he might. 

Lord Loudwater in a bad temper always produced 
a strong impression of redness for a man whose 
colouring was merely red-brown. Owing to the fact 
that his fierce, protruding blue eyes were red-rimmed 


12 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

and somewhat bloodshot, in moments of emotion they 
shone with a curious red glint, and his florid face 
flushed a deeper red. In these moments Mr. Manley 
had a feeling that he was dealing with a bad-tempered 
red bull. His employer made very much the same im- 
pression on other people, but few of them had the 
impression of bullness so clear and so complete as 
did Mr. Manley. Lady Loudwater, on the other 
hand, felt always, whether her husband was ramp- 
ing or quiet, that she was dealing with a bad-tem- 
pered bull. 

Presently they came to the end of the letters. 
Lord Loudwater lit another cigar, and scowled 
thoughtfully. Mr. Manley gazed at his scowling face 
and wondered idly whether he would ever light on an- 
other human being whom he would detest so heartily 
as he detested his employer. He thought it indeed 
unlikely. Still, when he became a successful drama- 
tist there might be an actor-manager 

Then Lord Loudwater said: 44 Did you tell Mrs. 
Truslove that after September her allowance would 
be reduced to three hundred a year? ” 

44 Yes,” said Mr. Manley. 

44 What did she say? ” 

Mr. Manley hesitated ; then he said diplomatically : 
44 She did not seem to like it.” 

44 What did she say? ” cried Lord Loudwater 
in a sudden, startling bellow, and his eyes shone 
red. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 13 

Mr. Manley winced and said quickly : “ She said 

it was just like you.” 

“ Just like me? Hey? And what did she mean 
by that? ” cried Lord Loudwater loudly and angrily. 

Mr. Manley expressed utter ignorance by looking 
blank and shrugging his shoulders. 

“The jade! She’s had six hundred a year for 
more than two years. Did she think it would go 
on for ever? ” cried his employer. 

“ No,” said Mr. Manley. 

“ And why didn’t she think it would go on for 
ever? Hey? ” said Lord Loudwater in a challenging 
tone. 

“ Because there wasn’t an actual deed of settle- 
ment,” said Mr. Manley. 

“ The ungrateful jade! I’ve a good mind to stop 
it altogether ! ” cried his employer. 

Mr. Manley said nothing. His face was blank ; it 
neither approved nor disapproved the suggestion. 

Lord Loudwater scowled at him and said: “I 
expect she said she wished she’d never had anything 
to do with me.” 

“ No,” said Mr. Manley. 

“ I’ll bet that’s what she thinks,” growled Lord 
Loudwater. 

Mr. Manley let the suggestion pass without com- 
ment. His face was blank. 

“And what’s she going to do about it?” said 
Lord Loudwater in a tone of challenge. 


14 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ She’s going to see you about it.” 

<fi I’m damned if she is ! ” cried Lord Loudwater 
hastily, in a much less assured tone. 

Mr. Manley permitted a faint, sceptical smile to 
wreathe his lips. 

“ What are you grinning at? If you think she’ll 
gain anything by doing that, she won’t,” said Lord 
Loudwater, with a blustering truculence. 

Mr. Manley wondered. Helena Truslove was a 
lady of considerable force of character. He sus- 
pected that if Lord Loudwater had ever been afraid 
of a fellow-creature, he must at times have been 
afraid of Helena Truslove. He fancied that now 
he was not nearly as fearless as he sounded. He 
did not say so. 

His employer was silent, buried in scowling reflec- 
tion. Mr. Manley gazed at him without any great 
intentness, and came to the conclusion that he did 
not merely detest him, he loathed him. 

Presently he said: “ There’s a eque from Han- 
bury and Johnson for twelve thousand and forty-six 
pounds for the rubber shares your lordship sold. It 
wants endorsing.” 

He handed the cheque across the table to Lord 
Loudwater. Lord Loudwater dipped his pen in the 
ink, transfixed a struggling bluebottle, and drew it 
out. 

“ Why the devil don’t you see that the ink is 
fresh? ” he roared. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 15 

“ It is fresh. The bluebottle must have just fallen 
into it,” said Mr. Manley in an unruffled tone. 

Lord Loudwater cursed the bluebottle, restored 
it to the ink-pot, endorsed the cheque, and tossed it 
across the table to Mr. Manley. 

“ By the way,” said Mr. Manley, with some hesita- 
tion, “ there’s another anonymous letter.” 

“ Why didn’t you burn it? I told you to burn ’em 
all,” snapped his employer. 

“ This one is not about you. It’s about Hutch- 
ings,” said Mr. Manley in an explanatory tone. 

66 Hutchings? What about Hutchings? ” 

“ You’d better read it,” said Mr. Manley, handing 
him the letter. “ It seems to be from some spiteful 
woman.” 

The letter was indeed written in female handwrit- 
ing, and it accused the butler, wordily enough, of 
having received a commission from Lord Loudwa- 
ter’s wine merchants on a purchase of fifty dozen 
of champagne which he had bought from them a 
month before. It further stated that he had re- 
ceived a like commission on many other such pur- 
chases. 

Lord Loudwater read it, scowling, sprang up from 
his chair with his eyes protruding further than usual, 
and cried : “ The scoundrel ! The blackguard ! 

I’ll teach him ! I’ll gaol him ! ” 

He dashed at the electric bell by the fireplace, set 
his thumb on it, and kept it there. 


16 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Holloway, the second footman, came running. 
The servants knew their master’s ring. They always 
ran to answer it, after some discussion as to which 
of them should go. 

He entered and said: “ Yes, m’lord?” 

“ Send that scoundrel Hutchings to me ! Send 
him at once ! ” roared his master. 

“ Yes, m’lord,” said Holloway, and hurried 
away. 

He found James Hutchings in his pantry, told 
him that their master wanted him, and added that 
he was in a tearing rage. 

Hutchings, who never expected his sanguine and 
irascible master to be in any other mood, finished 
the paragraph of the article in the Daily Telegraph 
he was reading, put on his coat, and went to the 
study. His delay gave Lord Loudwater’s wrath 
full time to mature. 

When the butler entered his master shook his fist 
at him and roared : “ You scoundrel ! You infernal 

scoundrel! You’ve been robbing me! You’ve been 
robbing me for years, you blackguard ! ” 

James Hutchings met the charge with complete 
calm. He shook his head and said in a surly tone: 
“No; I haven’t done anything of the kind, m’lord.” 

The flat denial infuriated his master yet more. 
He spluttered and was for a while incoherent. Then 
he became again articulate and said: “You have, 
you rogue ! You took a commission — a secret com- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 17 

mission on that fifty dozen of champagne I bought 
last month. You’ve been doing it for years.” 

James Hutchings’ surly face was transformed. It 
grew malignant; his fierce, protruding, red-rimmed 
blue eyes sparkled balefully, and he flushed to a red- 
ness as deep as that of his master. He knew at 
once who had betrayed him, and he was furious — 
at the betrayal. At the same time, he was not 
greatly alarmed ; he had never received a cheque from 
the wine merchants ; all their payments to him had 
been in cash, and he had always cherished a warm 
contempt for his master. 

“ I haven’t,” he said fiercely. 66 And if I had it 
would be quite regular — only a perquisite.” 

For the hundredth time Mr. Manley remarked the 
likeness between Lord Loudwater and his butler. 
They had the same fierce, protruding, red-rimmed 
blue eyes, the same narrow, low forehead, the same 
large ears. Hutchings’ hair was a darker brown 
than Lord Loudwater’s, and his lips were thinner. 
But Mr. Manley was sure that, had he worn a beard 
instead of whiskers, it would have been difficult for 
many people to be sure which was Lord Loudwater 
and which his butler. 

Lord Loudwater again spluttered ; then he roared : 
“ A perquisite ! What about the Corrupt Practices 
Act? It was passed for rogues like you! I’ll show 
you all about perquisites! You’ll find yourself in 
gaol inside of a month.” 


18 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I shan’t. There isn’t a word of truth in it, or a 
scrap of evidence,” said Hutchings fiercely. 

“ Evidence? I’ll find evidence all right ! ” cried his 
master. “ And if I don’t, I’ll, anyhow, discharge 
you without a character. I’ll get you one way or 
another, my fine fellow ! I’ll teach you to rob me ! ” 

“ I haven’t robbed your lordship,” said Hutchings 
in a less surly tone. 

He was much more moved bv the threat of dis- 
charge than the threat of prosecution. 

“ I tell you you have. And you can clear out of 
this. I’ll wire to town at once for another butler — 
an honest butler. You’ll clear out the moment he 
comes. Pack up and be ready to go. And when 
you do go, I’ll give you twenty-four hours to clear 
out of the country before I put the police on your 
track,” cried Lord Loudwater. 

Mr. Manley observed that it was exactly like him 
to take no risk, in spite of his fury, of any loss of 
comfort from the lack of a butler. The instinct of 
self-protection was indeed strong in him. 

“Not a bit of it. You’ve told me to go, and I’m 
going at once — this very day. The police will find 
me at my father’s for the next fortnight,” said 
Hutchings with a sneer. “ And when I go to Lon- 
don I’ll leave my address.” 

“ A lot of good your going to London will do you. 
I’ll see you never get another place in this country,” 
snarled Lord Loudwater. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 19 

Hutchings gave him a look of vindictive malig- 
nity so intense that it made Mr. Manley quite un- 
comfortable, turned, and went out of the room. 

Lord Loudwater said : “ I’ll teach the scoun- 

drel to rob me! Write at once for a new but- 
ler.” 

He took some lumps of sugar from a jar on the 
mantelpiece, and went through the door which opened 
into the library. 

In the library he stopped and shouted back : u If 
Morton comes about the timber, I shall be in the 
stables.” 

Then he went through one of the long windows 
of the library into the garden and took his way to 
the stables. As he drew near them the scowl cleared 
from his face. But it remained a formidable face; 
it did not grow pleasant. None the less, he spent a 
pleasant hour in the stables, petting his horses. He 
was fond of horses, not of cats, and he never bullied 
and seldom abused his horses as he abused and bullied 
his fellow men and women. This was the result of 
his experience. He had learnt from it that he might 
bully and abuse his human dependents with impunity. 
As a boy he had also bullied and abused his horses. 
But in his eighteenth year he had been savaged by 
a young horse he had maltreated, and the lesson had 
stuck in his mind. It was a simple, obtuse mind, but 
it had formed the theory that he got more out of 
human beings, more deference and service, by bully- 


20 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ing them and more out of horses by treating them 
kindly. Besides, he liked horses. 

Mr. Manley did not set about answering the letters 
at once. He reflected for a while on the likeness 
between Hutchings and his master. He thought the 
physical likeness of little interest. There was a 
whole clan of Hutchingses in the villages and woods 
round the castle, the bulk of them gamekeepers ; and 
there had been for generations. Mr. Manley was 
much more interested in the resemblance in char- 
acter between Hutchings and Lord Loudwater. 
Hutchings, probably under the pressure of circum- 
stances, was much less of a bore than his master, but 
quite as much of a bully. Also, he was more intelli- 
gent, and consequently more dangerous. Mr. Man- 
ley would on no account have had him look at him 
with the intense malignity with which he had looked 
at his master. Doubtless the butler had far greater 
self-control than Lord Loudwater ; but if ever he did 
lose it it would be uncommonly bad for Lord Loud- 
water. 

It would be interesting to find in the Loudwater 
archives the common ancestor to whom they both 
cast so directly back. He fancied that it must be 
the third Baron. At any rate, both had his pro- 
truding blue eyes, softened in his portrait doubtless 
by the natural politeness of the fashionable painter. 
Was it worth his while to look up the record of the 
third Lord Loudwater? He decided that, if he found 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 21 

himself at sufficient leisure, he would. Then he de- 
cided that he was glad that Hutchins was going; the 
butler had shown him but little civility. Then he set 
about answering the letters. 

When he had finished them he took up the stock- 
broker’s cheque and considered it with a thoughtful 
frown. He had never before seen a cheque for so 
large a sum ; and it interested him. Then he wrote 
a short note of instructions to Lord Loudwater’s 
bankers. The ink in his fountain-pen ran out as 
he came to the end of it, and he signed it with the 
pen with which Lord Loudwater had endorsed the 
cheque. He put the cheque into the envelope he had 
already addressed, put stamps on all the letters, 
carried them to the post-box on a table in the hall, 
went through the library out into the garden, and 
smoked a cigarette with a somewhat languid air. 
Then he went into the library and took up his task 
of cataloguing the books at the point at which he 
had stopped the day before. He often paused to 
dip at length into a book before entering it in the 
catalogue. He did not believe in hasty work. 


CHAPTER II 



ORD LOUDWATER came to lunch in a bet- 


ter temper than that in which he had left the 


M A breakfast-table. He had ridden eight miles 
round and about his estate, and the ride had soothed 
that seat of the evil humours — his liver. Lady 
Loudwater had been careful to shut Melchisidec in 
her boudoir; James Hutchings had no desire in the 
world to see his master’s florid face or square back, 
and had instructed Wilkins and Holloway, the first 
and second footmen, to wait at table. Lord Loud- 
water therefore could, without any ruffling of his 
sensibilities, give all his thought to his food, and he 
did. The cooking at the castle was always excellent. 
If it was not, he sent for the chef and spoke to him 
about it. 

There was little conversation at lunch. Lady 
Loudwater never spoke to her husband first, save 
on rare occasions about a matter of importance. It 
was not that she perceived any glamour of royalty 
about him ; she did not wish to hear his voice. Be- 
sides, she had never found a conversational open- 
ing so harmless that he could not contrive, were it 


22 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 23 

his whim, to be offensive about it. Besides, she had 
at the moment nothing to say to him. 

In truth, owing to the fact that she took so many 
practically silent meals with him, she was becoming 
rather a gourmet. The food, naturally the most im- 
portant fact, had become really the most important 
fact at the meals they took together. She had come 
to realize this. It was the only advantage she had 
ever derived from her intercourse with her husband. 

At this lunch, however, she did not pay as much 
attention to the food as usual, not indeed as much 
as it deserved. Her mind would stray from it to 
Colonel Grey. She wondered what he would tell her 
about herself that afternoon. He was always dis- 
covering possibilities in her which she had never dis- 
covered for herself. She only perceived their ex- 
istence when he pointed them out to her. Then they 
became obvious. Also, he was always discovering 
fresh facts, attractive facts, about her — about her 
eyes and lips and hair and figure. He imparted 
each discovery to her as he made it, without delay, 
and with the genuine enthusiasm of a discoverer. Of 
course, he should not have done this. It was, indeed, 
wrong. But he had assured her that he could not 
help it, that he was always blurted things out. Since 
it was a habit of long standing, now probably in- 
grained, it was useless to reproach him with any 
great severity for his frankness. She did not do so. 

For his part, the Lord Loudwater had but little 


24 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

to say to his wife. She was fond of Melchisidec 
and indifferent to horses. For the greater part of 
the meal he was hardly aware that she was at the 
other end of the table. Immersed in his food and 
its deglutition, he was hardly sensible of the outside 
world at all. Once, disturbed by Holloway’s re- 
moving his empty plate, he told her that he had seen 
a dog-fox on Windy Ridge; again, when Holloway 
handed the cheese-straws to him, he told her that 
Merry Belle’s black colt had a cold. Her two re- 
plies, “ Oh, did you? ” and “ Has he? ” appeared to 
fall on deaf ears. He did not continue either con- 
versation. 

Then Lord Loudwater broke into an eloquent 
monologue. Wilkins had poured out a glass of port 
for both of them to drink with their cheese-straws. 
Lord Loudwater finished his cheese-straws, took a 
long sip from his glass, rolled it lovingly over his 
tongue, gulped it down with a hideous grimace, 
banged down his fist on the table, and roared in a 
terrible, anguished voice: 

“ It’s corked ! It’s corked ! It’s that scoundrel 
Hutchings! This is his way of taking it out of 
me for sacking him. He’s done it on purpose, the 
scoundrel! Now I will gaol him! Hanged if I 
don’t!” 

“ I’ll get another bottle, m’lord,” said Wilkins, 
catching up the decanter, and hurrying towards the 
door. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 25 

“ Get it ! And be quick about it ! And tell that 
scoundrel I’ll gaol him 1 ” cried Lord Loudwater. 

Wilkins rushed from the room bearing in his hand 
the decanter of offending port ; Holloway followed 
him to help. 

Lady Loudwater sipped a little port from her 
glass. She was rather inclined to take no one’s word 
for anything which she could herself verify. Then 
she took another sip. 

Then she said; “ Are you sure this wine’s 
corked? ” 

Corked wine at the end of a really good meal is 
a bitter blow to any man, an exceedingly bitter blow 
to a man of Lord Loudwater’s sensitiveness in such 
matters. 

“Am I sure? Hey? Am I sure? Yes! I am 
sure, you little fool ! ” he bellowed. “ What do you 
know about wine? Talk about things you under- 
stand ! ” 

Lady Loudwater’s face was twisted by a faint 
spasm of hate which left it flushed. She would never 
grow used to being bellowed at for a fool. Once 
more her husband’s refusal to let her take her meals 
apart from him seemed monstrous. Hardly ever did 
she rise from one at which she had not been abused 
and insulted. She realized indeed that she had been 
foolish to ask the question. But why should she sit 
tongue-tied before the brute? 


26 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

She took another sip and said quietly : “ It isn’t 

corked.” 

Then she turned cold with fright. 

Lord Loudwater could not believe his ears. It 
could not be that his wife had contradicted him 
flatly. It — could — not — be. 

He was still incredulous, breathing heavily, when 
the door opened and James Hutchings appeared on 
the threshold. In his right hand he held the de- 
canter of offending port, in his left a sound cork. 

He said firmly : “ This wine isn’t corked, m’lord. 

Its flavour is perfect. Besides, a cork like this 
couldn’t cork it.” 

A less sensitive man than Lord Loudwater might 
have risen to the double emergency. Lord Loud- 
water could not. He sat perfectly still. But his 
eyes rolled so horribly that the Lady Loudwater 
started from her chair, uttered a faint scream, and 
fairly ran through the long window into the garden. 

James Hutchings advanced to the table, thumped 
the decanter down on it — no way to treat an old 
vintage port — at Lord Loudwater’s right hand, 
walked out of the room, and shut the door firmly 
behind him. 

In the great hall he smiled a triumphant, malev- 
olent smile. Then he called Wilkins and Hollo- 
way, who stood together in the middle of it, cowardly 
dogs and shirkers, and strode past them to the door 
to the servants’ quarters. 


THE LOUDWATEE MYSTERY 27 

A few moments later Lord Loudwater rose to his 
feet and staggered dizzily along to the other end of 
the table. He picked up his wife’s half-emptied glass 
and sipped the port. It was not corked. It was in- 
credible 1 He would never forgive her ! 

He rang the bell. Both Wilkins and Holloway 
answered it. He bade them tell Hutchings to pack 
his belongings and go at once. If he were not out 
of the castle by four o’clock, they were to kick him 
out. Then he went, still scowling, to the stables. 

Mr. Manley had already finished his lunch. Half- 
way through his after-lunch pipe he rose, took his 
hat and stick, and set out to pay a visit to Mrs. 
Truslove. 

As he came out of the park gates he came upon the 
Rev. George Stebbing, the locum tenens in charge 
of the parish, for the vicar was away on a holiday, 
enjoying a respite from his perpetual struggle with 
the patron of the living, Lord Loudwater. 

They fell into step and for a while discussed the 
local weather and local affairs. Then Mr. Manley, 
who had been gifted by Heaven with a lively imagina- 
tion wholly untrammelled by any straining passion 
for exactitude, entertained Mr. Stebbing with a vivid 
account of his experiences as leader of the first Great 
Push. Mr. Manley was one of the many rather 
stout, soft men who in different parts of Great 
Britain wdll till their dying days entertain acquaint- 
ances with vivid accounts of their experiences as 


28 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

leaders of the Great Pushes. Like that of most of 
them, his war experience, before his weak heart had 
procured him his discharge from the army, had con- 
sisted wholly of office work in England. His account 
of his strenuous fighting lacked nothing of fire or pic- 
turesqueness on that account. He was too modest 
to say in so many words that but for his martial 
qualities there would have been no Great Push at all, 
and that any success it had had was due to those 
martial qualities, but that was the impression he left 
on Mr. Stebbing’s simple and rather plastic mind. 
When therefore they parted at the crossroads, Mr. 
Manley went on his way in a pleasant content at 
having once more made himself valued ; and Mr. Steb- 
bing went on his way feeling thankful that he had 
been brought into friendly contact with a really able 
hero. Both of them were the happier for their 
chance meeting. 

Mr. Manley found Helena Truslove in her draw- 
ing-room, and when the door closed behind the maid 
who had ushered him into it, he embraced her with 
affectionate warmth. Then he held her out at arm’s- 
length, and for the several hundredth time admired 
her handsome, clear-skinned, high-coloured, gipsy 
face, her black, rather wild eyes, and the black hair 
wreathed round her head in so heavy a mass. 

“ It has been an awful long time between the 
kisses,” he said. 

She sighed a sigh of content and laughed softly. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 29 

Then she said : “ I sometimes think that you must 

have had a great deal of practice.” 

“ No,” said Mr. Manley firmly. “ I have never 
had occasion to be in love before.” 

He put her back into the chair from which he had 
lifted her, sat down facing her, and gazed at her 
with adoring eyes. He was truly very much in love 
with her. 

They were excellent complements the one of the 
other. If Mr. Manley had the brains for two — in- 
deed, he had the brains for half a dozen — she had 
the character for two. Her chin was very unlike 
the chin of an eagle. She was not, indeed, lacking 
in brains. Her brow forbade the supposition. But 
hers was rather the practical intelligence, his the 
creative. That she had the force of character, on 
occasion the fierceness, which he lacked, was no small 
source of her attraction for him. 

“ And how was the hog this morning? ” she said, 
ready to be soothing. 

“ The hog ” was their pet name for Lord Loud- 
water. 

“ Beastly. He’s an utterly loathsome fellow,” 
said Mr. Manley with conviction. 

“ Oh, no ; not utterly — at any rate, not if you’re 
independent of him,” she protested. 

“ Does he ever come into contact with any one 
who is not dependent on him? I believe he shuns 
them like the pest.” 


30 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ Not into close contact,” she said — “ at any 
rate, nowadays. But I’ve known him to do good-na- 
tured things ; and then he’s very fond of his horses.” 

“ That makes the way he treats every human be- 
ing who is in any way dependent on him all the more 
disgusting,” said Mr. Manley firmly. 

“ Oh, I don’t know. It’s something to be fond 
of animals,” she said tolerantly. 

“ This morning he had a devil of a row with Hutch- 
ings, the butler, you know, and discharged him.” 

“ That was a silly thing to do. Hutchings is not 
at all a good person to have a row with,” she said 
quickly. “ I should say that he was a far more dan- 
gerous brute than Loudwater and much more intel- 
ligent. Still, I don’t know what he could do. What 
was the row about? ” 

“ Some woman sent Loudwater an anonymous let- 
ter accusing Hutchings of having received commis- 
sions from the wine merchants.” 

“ That would be Elizabeth Twitcher’s mother. 
Elizabeth and Hutchings were engaged, and about 
ten days ago he jilted her,” said Mrs. Truslove. 
“ I suppose that when he was in love with her he 
bragged about these commissions to her and she told 
her mother.” 

“ Her mother has certainly taken it out of him 
for jilting her daughter. But what an unsavoury 
place the castle is ! ” said Mr. Manley. 

“With such a master — what can you expect?” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 31 

said Mrs. Truslove. “ Did the hog say anything 
more about halving my allowance? ” 

Mr. Manley frowned. A few days before he had 
been greatly surprised to learn from Lord Loud- 
water that the bulk of Helena Truslove’s income was 
an allowance from him. The matter had greatly ex- 
ercised his mind. Why should his employer allow 
her six hundred a year? It was a matter which 
should be cleared up. 

He said slowly: “Yes, he did. He asked what 
you said when I told you that he was going to halve 
it, and he did not seem to like the idea of your seeing 
him about it.” 

“ He’ll like my seeing him about it even less than 
the idea of it,” said Mrs. Truslove firmly, and there 
was a sudden gleam in her wild black eyes. 

Mr. Manley looked at her, frowning faintly. 
Then he said in a rather hesitating manner : “ I’ve 

never asked you about it. But why does the hog 
make you this allowance ? ” 

“ That’s my dark past,” she said in a teasing 
tone, smiling at him. “ I suppose that as we’re go- 
ing to be married so soon I ought to make a clean 
breast of it, if you really want to know.” 

“ Just as you like,” said Mr. Manley, his face 
clearing a little at her careless tone. 

“ Well, the hog treated me badly — not really 
badly, because I didn’t care enough about him to 
make it possible for him to treat me really badty, 


32 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

but just as badly as he could. For when he and 
I first met I was on the way to get engaged to a man, 
named Hardwicke — a rich city man, rather a bore, 
but a man who would make an excellent husband. 
Loudwater knew that Hardwicke was ready and 
eager to marry me, and I suppose that that helped 
to make him keen on me. At any rate, he made love 
to me, not nearly so badly as you’d think, and per- 
suaded me to promise to marry him.” 

“ I can’t think how you could have done it ! ” 
cried Mr. Manley. 

“ How was I to know what a hog he was at home? 
At Trouville he was quite nice, as I tell you. Be- 
sides, there was the title — I thought I should like 
to be Lady Loudwater. You know, I do have strong 
impulses, and I act on them.” 

“ Well, after all, you didn’t marry him,” said Mr. 
Manley in a tone of relief. “ What did happen? ” 

“ We were engaged for about two months. Then, 
about a month before the date fixed for our mar- 
riage, he met Olivia Quainton, fell in love with her, 
and broke off our engagement a week before our 
wedding-day.” 

“ Well, of all the caddish tricks ! ” cried Mr. 
Manley. 

“ You can imagine how furious I was. And I 
wasn’t going to stand it — not from Loudwater, at 
any rate. I had learnt a good deal more about him 
in the eleven weeks we were engaged, and, naturally, 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 33 

I wasn’t pleased with what I had learnt. I set out 
to make myself very disagreeable. I saw him and 
did make myself very disagreeable. I told him a 
good many unpleasant things about himself which 
made him much more furious than I was myself.” 

“ I’m glad some of it got through his thick skin,” 
said Mr. Manley. 

“ A good deal of it did. Then I made it clear to 
him that he had robbed me of John Hardwicke and an 
excellent settlement in life, and told him that I was 
going to bring an action for breach of promise 
against him. That certainly got through his thick 
skin, for it’s very painful to him to spend money on 
any one but himself. But he made terms at once, 
gave me this house furnished, and promised to allow 
me six hundred a year for life. You don’t think I 
was wrong to take it? ” she added anxiously, 

“ Certainly not,” said Mr. Manley quickly and 
firmly. 

Her face cleared and she said : “ So many people 

would say that it was not nice my taking money 
for an injury like that.” 

“ Rubbish ! It wasn’t as if you’d been in love with 
him,” said Mr. Manley with the firmest conviction. 

“ That’s the exact point. You do see things,” she 
said, smiling at him gratefully. “ If I had been, it 
would have been quite different.” 

46 And how else were you to score off him except 
by hitting him in the pocket? That and his stomach 


34 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

are his only vulnerable points,” said Mr. Manley 
viciously. 

He was ignorant of Melchisidec’s discovery of 
another. 

“ They are. And he certainly had robbed me of 
an income. It was only fair that he should make 
up for it,” she said rather plaintively. 

“ Absolutely fair.” 

<£ Well, those were the terms. The house is mine 
all right; it was properly made over to me. But, 
stupidly, I didn’t have a proper deed drawn up about 
the money. I had his promise. One supposes that 
one can take the word of an English Peer. But I 
think that it’s really all right. I have his letters 
about it.” 

“ There’s no saying. You’d better see a lawyer 
about it and find out. But this isn’t a very dark 
past,” he said, and rose and came to her and kissed 
her. 

He was, indeed, relieved and reassured. In these 
circumstances the six hundred a year was not an 
allowance at all. It was merely the payment of 
a debt — a just debt. 

“ But it won’t be nearly so nice for us, if the hog 
does manage to cut the six hundred down to three 
hundred. My husband only left me a hundred a 
a year,” she said, frowning. 

“ To be with you will be perfection, whatever our 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 35 

income is,” said Mr. Manley, with ringing conviction, 
and he kissed her again. 

She smiled happily and said : “ He shan’t cut 

it down. I’ll see that he doesn’t. When I’ve had a 
talk with him, he’ll be glad enough to leave it as 
it is.” 

44 It’s very likely that he’s only trying it on. It’s 
the kind of thing he would do. But you’ll find it 
difficult to get that talk. He’s bent on shirking it,” 
said Mr. Manley. 

46 I’ll see that he doesn’t get the chance of shirking 
it,” she said, and her eyes gleamed again. 

44 1 believe you’re the only person in the world 
he’s afraid of,” he said in a tone of admiration. 

44 1 shouldn’t wonder,” she said. 44 At any rate, 
I seem to be the only person in the world to whom 
he’s always been civil. At least, I’ve never heard 
of any one else.” 

44 I’m afraid he won’t be civil when you get that 
talk with him — if ever you do get it,” said Mr. 
Manley, frowning rather anxiously. 

44 That’ll be all the worse for him,” she said daunt- 
lessly. 44 But, after all, if I did fail to make him 
leave my income at six hundred, we should still have 
this house and four hundred a year. We should still 
be quite comfortable. Besides, you could keep on 
as his secretary, and that would be another two hun- 
dred a year.” 


36 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I can’t do that ! It’s out of the question ! ” cried 
Mr. Manley. “ I’m getting so to loathe the brute 
that I shall soon be quite unable to stand him. As 
it is, I sometimes have a violent desire to wring his 
neck. Now that I know that he played this measly 
trick on you, it will be more violent than ever. Be- 
sides, we must have a flat in town. It’s really neces- 
sary to my work ! I can do my actual writing down 
here fairly well. But what I really need is to get in 
touch with the right people, with the people who are 
really stimulating. Besides, I’m gregarious ; I like 
mixing with people.” 

“ Yes. You’re right. We must have a flat in 
town. Therefore, I must make the hog keep to his 
bargain, and I will,” she said firmly. 

“ I believe you may,” he said, gazing at her de- 
termined face with admiring eyes. 

There was a pause. Then she said carelessly: 
u When are we going to tell people that we’re en- 
gaged ? ” 

“ Not yet awhile,” said Mr. Manley quickly. 
“ At least I don’t want the people about here to 
know about it. And if you come to think of it, 
things being as they are, Loudwater would probably 
make himself more infernally disagreeable to me than 
he does at present. He’d not only try to take it out 
of me to annoy you, but it’s just as likely as not that 
he would consider my getting engaged to you as 
poaching on his preserves — infernal cheek. He’s 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 87 

the most hopelessly vain and unreasonable sweep in 
the British Isles.” 

“ I shouldn’t be a bit surprised if he did. He 
couldn’t possibly help being a dog in the manger,” 
she said thoughtfully. u And there’s another thing. 
It has just occurred to me that if he tries to halve 
my income for nothing at all, he might try to stop it 
altogether if I got married. No; I must get that 
matter settled for good and all. I’ll have that talk 
with him at once.” 

“ If you can get it,” said Mr. Manley doubt- 
fully. 

“ I can get it,” she said confidently. “ You must 
remember that, having lived here for nearly two 
years, I know all about his habits. I shall take him 
by surprise. But we’ve talked enough about these 
dull things; let’s talk about something interesting. 
How’s the play going? ” 

They talked about the play he was writing, and 
then they talked about one another. They had their 
afternoon tea soon after four, for Mr. Manley had 
to return to the Castle to deal with any letters that 
the five o’clock post might bring. 

At twenty minutes to five he left Mrs. Truslove 
and walked back to the Castle. He was truly in 
love with Helena. She was intelligent and appre- 
ciative. She was of his own class, with his own 
practical outlook on life, born of having belonged 
to a middle-class family of moderate means like him- 


38 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

self. She was the daughter of a country architect. 
He could nowhere have found a more suitable wife. 
He was relieved about the matter of the reason why 
she received an allowance from Lord Loudwater; but 
he was not relieved about the matter of its being 
halved. Seven hundred a year had been an excellent 
income for the wife of a struggling playwright to 
enjoy. It had promised him the full social life in 
which his genius would most rapidly develop. He 
had regarded that income with great pleasure. Ever 
since Lord Loudwater had bidden him inform Helena 
of his intention of halving her allowance he had been 
bitterly angered by this barefaced attempt to rob 
her and consequently her future husband. In the 
light of her story the attempt had grown yet more 
disgraceful, and he resented it yet more bitterly. 

The further danger that Lord Loudwater might 
attempt to stop her income altogether if she married, 
though he perceived that it was a real, even im- 
minent danger, did not greatly trouble him. He was 
full of resentment, not fear. He felt that he loathed 
his employer more than ever and with more reason. 

Holloway brought the post-bag to the library, and 
waited while Mr. Manley sorted the letters, that he 
might take those addressed to Lady Loudwater to 
her rooms and those addressed to the servants to the 
housekeeper’s room. 

As Mr. Manley inverted the bag and poured its 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 39 

contents on to the table, the footman said: 44 ’Utch- 
ings ’as gone, sir.” 

44 We must bear up,” said Mr. Manley, in a tone 
wholly void of any sympathy with Hutchings in his 
misfortune. 

44 He was that furious. The things ’e said Vd do 
to his lordship ! ” said Holloway in a deeply-im- 
pressed tone. 

44 Threatened men live long,” said Mr. Manley 
carelessly. 


CHAPTER III 


T HERE is in the collection of the Earl of El- 
lesmere a picture of the head of a girl which 
the connoisseurs of the nineteenth century 
ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci. The connoisseurs 
of the twentieth century ascribe it to Luini. But for 
the colour of the hair it might have been a portrait 
of Lady Loudwater, a faded portrait. It might also 
very well be a portrait of one of her actual ances- 
tresses, for her grandmother was a lady of an old 
Tuscan family. 

Be that as it may, Lady Loudwater had the soft, 
dark, dreamy eyes, set rather wide apart, the 
straight, delicate nose, the alluring lips, promising 
all the kisses, the broad, well-moulded forehead, and 
the faint, exactly curving eyebrows of the girl in the 
picture. Above all, when Lord Loudwater was not 
present, the mysterious, enchanting, lingering smile, 
which is perhaps the chief charm of Luini’s women, 
rested nearty always on her face. But while the hair 
of the girl in the picture is a deep, dull red, the hair 
of Olivia was dark brown with glimmers of gold in it. 
Also, her colouring was warmer than that of the 
girl in the picture, and her alluring charm stronger. 
40 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 41 

At a quarter to three that afternoon she came out 
on to the East lawn in a silk frock and hat of a green 
rather sombre for the summer day. She had been 
bidden by a fashionable fortune-teller never to wear 
green, for it was her unlucky colour. But that tint 
had so given her colouring its full values and her 
dark, liquid eyes so deep a depth, that she had paid 
no heed to the warning. There was a bright light of 
expectation in her eyes, and the alluring smile ling- 
ered on her face. 

She walked quickly across the lawn with the easy, 
graceful gait proper to the accomplished golfer she 
was, into the shrubbery on the other side of it. A 
few feet along the path through it she looked sharply 
back over her shoulder. She saw no one at those 
windows of the East wing which looked on to the 
lawn and shrubbery, but a movement on the lawn 
itself caught her eye. The cat Melchisidec was fol- 
lowing her. She did not slacken her pace, but for a 
moment the smile faded from her face at the remem- 
brance of her husband’s outburst at breakfast. 
Then the smile returned, subtile and expectant. 

She did not wait for Melchisidec. She knew his 
w r ay of pretending to follow her like a dog; she 
knew that if she displayed any interest in him, even 
showed that she was aware of his presence, he would 
probably come no further. She went on at the 
same brisk pace till she came to the gate in the 
East wood. She went through it, shut it gently, 


42 THE LOUDWATEE MYSTERY 

paused, and again looked back. All of the path 
through the shrubbery that she could see was empty. 
She turned and walked briskly along the narrow 
path through the wood, and came into the long, 
turf-paved aisle which ran at right angles to it. 

The middle of the aisle was deeply rutted by the 
wheels of the carts which had carried away the timber 
from the spring thinning of the wood. She turned 
to the left and sauntered slowly up the smooth turf 
along the side of the aisle, a brighter light of ex- 
pectation in her eyes, her smile even more mysterious 
and alluring. 

She had not gone fifty yards up the aisle when 
Colonel Grey came limping out of the entrance of 
a path on the other side of it, and quickened his 
pace as he crossed it. 

She stood still, flushing faintly, gazing at him 
with her lips parted a little. He looked, as he was, 
very young to be a Lieutenant-Colonel, and uncom- 
monly fragile for a V. C. At any time he would look 
delicate, and he was the paler for the fact that at 
times he still suffered considerable pain from his 
wound. But there was force in his delicate, dis- 
tinguished face. His sensitive lips could set very 
firm; his chin was square; his nose had a rather 
heavy bridge, and usually his grey eyes were cold 
and very keen. He gave the impression of being 
wrought of finely-tempered steel. 

His eyes were shining so brightly at the moment 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 43 

that they had lost their keenness with their cold- 
ness. He marked joyfully the flush on her face, 
and did not know that he was flushing himself. 

About five feet away he stopped, gazing, or rather 
staring, at her, and said in a tone of fervent convic- 
tion : “ Heavens, Olivia ! What a beautiful and 

entrancing creature you are ! ” 

She smiled, flushing more deeply. He stepped for- 
ward, took her hand, and held it very tightly. 

“ Goodness ! But I have been impatient for you 
to come ! 99 he cried. 

“ I’ m not late,” she said in her low, sweet, rather 
drawling voice. 

He let go of her hand and said : “ I don’t know 

how it is, but I’ve been as restless as a cat all the 
morning. I’m never sure that you will be able to 
come ; and the uncertainty worries me.” 

44 But you saw me for three hours yesterday,” she 
said, moving forward. 

44 Yesterday? ” he said, falling into step with her. 
44 Yesterday is a thousand years away. I wasn’t 
sure that you’d come today.” 

44 Why shouldn’t I come? ” she said. 

44 Loudwater might have got to know of it and 
stopped you coming.” 

44 Fortunately he doesn’t take enough interest in 
my doings. Of course, if I didn’t turn up at a 
meal, he’d make a fuss, though why he should make 
such a point of our having all our meals together 


44 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

I can’t conceive. I should certainly enjoy mine 
much more if I had them in my sitting-room,” she 
said in a dispassionate tone, for all the world as if 
she were discussing the case of some one else. 

44 I am so worried about you,” he said with a 
harassed air. 44 Ever since that evening I heard him 
bullying you I’ve been simply worried to death about 
it.” 

44 It was nice of you to interfere, but it was a pity,” 
she said gently. 44 It didn’t do any good as far as 
his behaviour is concerned, and we saw so much more 
of one another when you could come to the Castle.” 

44 Then you do want to see more of me? ” he said 
eagerly. 

Lady Loudwater lost her smiling air; she became 
demureness itself, and she said: 44 Well, you see — - 
thanks to Egbert’s vile temper — we have so few 
friends.” 

Grey frowned; she was always quick to elude him. 
Then he growled : 44 What a name ! Egbert ! ” 

44 He can’t help that. It was given him. Besides, 
it’s a family name,” she said in a tone of fine im- 
partiality. 

44 It would be. Hogbert I ” said Grey contemptu- 
ously. 

Mrs. Truslove and Mr. Manley were not the only 
people to ignore the essential bullness of Lord Loud- 
water. 

They went on a few steps in silence; then she said: 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 45 

“ Besides, I don’t mind his outbursts. I’m used to 
them.” 

“ I don’t believe it ! You’re much too delicate and 
sensitive ! ” he cried. 

“ But I am getting used to them,” she protested. 

u You never will. Has he been bullying you 
again? ” he said, looking anxiously into her eyes. 

“ Not more than usual,” she said in a wholly in- 
different tone. 

“ Then it is usual ! I was afraid it was,” he said 
in a miserable voice. “ What on earth is to be done 
about it? ” 

“ Why, there’s nothing to be done, except just 
grin and bear it,” she said bravely enough, and with 
the conviction of one who has thought a matter out 
thoroughly. 

“ Then it’s monstrous ! Just monstrous, that the 
most charming and loveliest creature in the world 
should be bullied by that infernal brute ! ” he cried, 
and put his arm around her. 

The Countess was on the very point of slipping 
out of it when the cat Melchisidec came out of the 
bushes a dozen yards ahead of them, and with Mel- 
chisdec came a very distinct vision of Lord Loud- 
water’s flushed, distorted, and revolting face as he 
swore at her at breakfast that morning. 

She did not slip out of the encircling arm, and 
Grey bent his head and kissed her lightly on the 
lips. 


46 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

It was the gentlest, lightest kiss, the kiss he might 
have given a pretty child, just a natural tribute to 
beauty and charm. 

But the harm was done. The population of Great 
Britain cannot really be more than one and a half 
persons to the acre, and the great majority of them 
live, thousands to the acre, in towns ; yet it is indeed 
difficult to kiss a girl during the daytime in any 
given acre, however thickly wooded, without being 
seen by some superfluous sojourner on that acre; and 
whether, or no, it was that the green frock and 
hat brought the Countess the bad luck the fortune- 
teller had foretold, there was a witness to that 
kiss. 

Undoubtedly, too, it was not the right kind of 
witness. If it had been an indulgent elder not given 
to gossip, or a chivalrous young man not averse 
himself from kisses, all might have been well. But 
William Roper, under-gamekeeper, was a young man 
without a spark of chivalry in him, and he had been 
soured in the matter of kisses by the steadfast resolve 
of the young women of the village to suffer none from 
him. He was an unattractive young man, not unlike 
the ferrets he kept at his cottage. He was the last 
young man in the world, or at any rate in the neigh- 
bourhood, to keep silent about what he had seen. 

Even so, no great harm might have been done. 
He might have blabbed about the matter in the 
village, and the whole village and the servants of the 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 47 

Castle might have talked about it for weeks and 
months, or even years, without it reaching the ears of 
Lord Loudwater. But William Roper saw in that 
kiss his royal road to Fortune. Ambitious in the 
grain, he was not content with his post of under- 
gamekeeper; he desired to oust William Hutchings 
from the post of head-gamekeeper, and though there 
were two under-gamekeepers senior to him with a 
greater claim on that post, occupy it himself. Here 
was the way to it; his lordship could not but be 
grateful to the man who informed him of such 
goings-on ; he could not but promote him to the post 
of his desire. 

He wholly misjudged his lordship. Ordinary 
gratitude was not one of his attributes. 

Olivia slipped out of Grey’s arm, and they walked 
on up the aisle. But they walked on, changed crea- 
tures — trembling, a little bemused. 

William Roper, the ill-favoured minister of Neme- 
sis, followed them. 

At the top of the aisle they came to the pavilion, 
a small white marble building in the Classic style, 
standing in the middle of a broad glade. 

As they went into it, Olivia said wistfully : 44 It’s 

a pity I couldn’t have tea sent here.” 

“ I did. At least I brought it,” said Grey, waving 
his hand towards a basket which stood on the table. 
“ I knew you’d be happier for tea.” 

“ No one has ever been so thoughtful of me as 


48 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

you are,” she said, gazing at him with grateful, 
troubled eyes. 

“ Let’s hope that your luck is changing,” he said 
gravely, gazing at her with eyes no less troubled. 

Then Melchisidec scratched at the door and 
mewed. Olivia let him in. Purring in the friendliest 
way, he rubbed his head against Grey’s leg. He 
never treated Lord Loudwater with such friendli- 
ness. 

William Roper chose a tree about forty yards 
from the pavilion and set his gun against the trunk. 
Then he filled and lit his pipe, leaned back comfort- 
ably against the trunk, hidden by the fringe of un- 
dergrowth, and, with his eyes on the door of the 
pavilion, waited. For Grey and Olivia, never dream- 
ing of this patient watcher, the minutes flew; they 
had so many things to tell one another, so many 
questions to ask. At least Grey had ; Olivia, for the 
most part, listened without comment, unless the flush 
which waxed and waned should be considered com- 
ment, to the things he told her about herself and the 
many ways in which she affected him. For William 
Roper the minutes dragged; he was eager to start 
briskly up the royal road to Fortune. He was a slow 
smoker and he smoked a strong, slow-burning twist; 
but he had nearly emptied the screw of paper which 
held it before they came out of the door of the 
pavilion. 

It was a still evening, but some drift of air had 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 49 

carried the rank smoke from William Roper’s pipe 
into the glade, and it hung there. Colonel Grey 
had not taken five steps before his nostrils were 
assailed by it. 

“ Damn ! ” he said softly. 

“ What’s the matter? ” said Olivia. 

She was too deeply absorbed in Grey for her senses 
to be alert, and the reek of William Roper’s twist had 
reached her nostrils, but not her brain. 

“ There’s some one about,” he said. “ Can’t you 
smell his vile tobacco? ” 

“Bother!” said Olivia softly, and she frowned. 
They walked quietly on. Grey was careful not to 
look about him with any show of earnestness, for 
there was nothing to be gained by letting the watcher 
know that they had perceived his presence. Indeed, 
he would have seen nothing, for the undergrowth be- 
tween him and the glade was too thin to form a good 
screen, and William Roper was now behind the tree- 
trunk. 

Thirty yards down the broad aisle Grey said in 
a low voice : “ This is an infernal nuisance ! ” 

“ Why? ” said Olivia. 

“ If it comes to Loudwater’s ears, he’ll make him- 
self devilishly unpleasant to you.” 

“ He can’t make himself more unpleasant than he 
does,” she said, in a tone of quiet certitude and utter 
indifference. “ But why shouldn’t I have tea with 
you in the pavilion? It’s what it’s there for.” 


50 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ All the same, Loudwater will make an infernal 
fuss about it, if it gets to his ears. He’ll bully you 
worse than ever,” he said in an unhappy tone, frown- 
ing heavily. 

44 What do I care about Loudwater — now?” she 
>cdd, smiling at him, and she brushed her finger- 
tips across the back of his hand. 

He caught her fingers and held them for a mo- 
ment, but the frown did not lift. 

“ The nuisance is that, whoever it was, he had 
been there a long time,” he said gravely. “ The 
glade was full of the reek of his vile tobacco. Sup- 
pose he saw me kiss you in the drive here and then 
followed us?” 

“ Well, if you will do such wicked things in the 
open air ” she said, smiling. 

“ It isn’t a laughing matter, I’m afraid,” he said 
rather heavily, and frowning. 

“ Well, I should have to consider your reputation 
and say that you didn’t. It would be very bad for 
your career if it became known that you did such 
things, and Egbert would never rest till he had 
done everything he could do to injure you. I should 
certainly declare that you didn’t, and you’d have to 
do the same.” 

“ Oh, leave me out of it ! Hogbert can’t touch 
me. It’s you I’m thinking about,” he said. 

“ But there’s no need to worry about me. I’m 
not afraid of Egbert any longer,” she said, and her 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 51 

eyes, full of confidence and courage, met his steadily. 
Then, resolved to clear the anxiety away from his 
mind, she went on : “ It’s no use meeting trouble 

half-way. If some one did see us, Egbert may not 
get to hear of it for days, or weeks — perhaps 
never.” 

She did not know that they had to reckon with 
the ambition of William Roper. 

“ Lord, how I want to kiss you again ! ” he cried. 

“ You’ll have to wait till tomorrow,” she said. 

It was as well that he did not kiss her again, for 
fifty yards behind them, stealing through the wood, 
came William Roper, all eyes. And he had already 
quite enough to tell. 

Grey walked with her through the rest of the 
wood and nearly to the end of the path through 
the shrubbery. She spared no effort to set his mind 
at ease, protesting that she did not care a rap how 
furiously her husband abused her. A few yards 
from the edge of the East lawn they stopped, but 
they lingered over their parting. She promised to 
meet him in the East wood at three on the morrow. 

She walked slowly across the lawn and up to her 
suite of rooms, thinking of Grey. She changed into 
a peignoir , lit a cigarette, lay down on a couch, 
and went on thinking about him. She gave no 
thought to the matter of whether they had been 
watched. Lord Loudwater had become of less inter- 
est than ever to her; his furies seemed trivial. She 


52 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

had a feeling that he had become a mere shadow in 
her life. 

As she lay smoking that cigarette William Roper 
was telling his story to Lord Loudwater. He had 
waited in the wood till Colonel Grey had gone back 
through it ; then he had walked briskly to the back 
door of the Castle and asked to see his lordship. 
Mary Hutchings, the second housemaid, who had 
answered his knock, took him to the servants’ hall, 
and told Holloway what he asked. Both of them 
regarded him curiously ; they themselves never 
wanted to see his lordship, though seeing him was 
part of their jobs, and one who could go out of 
his way to see him must indeed be remarkable. 
William Roper was hardly remarkable. He was 
merely somewhat repulsive. Holloway said that he 
would inquire whether his lordship would see him, and 
went. 

As he went out of the door William Roper said, 
with an air of great importance : “ Tell ’is lordship 

as it’s very partic’ler.” 

Mary Hutchings’ curiosity was aroused, and she 
tried to discover what it was. All she gained by do- 
ing so was an acute irritation of her curiosity. 
William Roper grew mysterious to the very limits 
of aggravation, but he told her nothing. 

Her irritation was not alleviated when he said 
darkly: “ You’ll ’ear all about these goings-on in 
time.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 53 

She wished to hear all about them then and 
there. 

Holloway came back presently, looking rather 
sulky, and said that his lordship would see William 
Roper. 

“ Though why ’e should curse me because you 
want to see ’im very partic’ler, I can’t see,” he added, 
with an aggrieved air. 

He led the way, and for the first time in his life 
William Roper found himself entering the presence 
of the head of the House of Loudwater without any 
sense of trepidation. He carried himself unusually 
upright with an air of conscious rectitude. 

Lord Loudwater was in the smoking-room in which 
he had that morning dealt with his letters with Mr. 
Manley. It was his favourite room, his smoking- 
room, his reading-room, and his office. He had been 
for a long ride, and was now lying back in an easy 
chair, with a long whisky-and-soda by his side, read- 
ing the Pall Mall Gazette . In literature his taste 
was blameless. 

Holloway, ushering William Roper into the room, 
said: “William Roper, m’lord,” and withdrew. 

Lord Loudwater went on reading the paragraph 
he had just begun. William Roper gazed at him 
without any weakening of his courage, so strong was 
his conviction of the nobility of the duty he was 
discharging, and cleared his throat. 

Lord Loudwater finished the paragraph, scowled 


54 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

at the interrupter, and said: “Well, what is it? 
Hey? What do you want? ” 

“ It’s about ’er ladyship, your lordship. I 
thought your lordship oughter be told about it — 
its not being at all the sort of thing as your lord- 
ship would be likely to ’old with.” 

There are noblemen who would, on the instant, 
have bidden William Roper go to the devil. Lord 
Loudwater was not of these. He set the newspaper 
down beside the whisky-and-soda, leaned forward, 
and said in a hushed voice : “ What the devil are 

you talking about? Hey?” 

“ I seed Colonel Grey — the gentleman as is stay- 
ing at the 4 Cart and ’Orses’ — kiss ’er in the East 
wood,” said William Roper. 

The first emotion of Lord Loudwater was incredu- 
lous amazement. It was his very strong conviction 
that his wife was a cold-blooded, passionless crea- 
ture, incapable of inspiring or feeling any warm emo- 
tion. He had forgotten that he had married her for 
love — violent love. 

“You infernal liar!” he said in a rather breath- 
less voice. 

“ It ain’t no lie, your lordship. What for should 
I go telling lies about ’er? ” said William Roper 
in an injured tone. 

Lord Loudwater stared at him. The fellow was 
telling the truth. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 55 

“And what did she do? Hey? Did she smack 
his face for him? ” he cried. 

“ No. She let ’im do it, your lordship.” 

“ She did? ” bellowed his lordship. 

“ Yes. She didn’t seem a bit put out, your lord- 
ship,” said William Roper simply. 

“ And what happened then ? ” bellowed Lord Loud- 
water, and he got to his feet. 

“ They walked on to the pavilion, your lordship. 
An’ they had their tea there. Leastways, I seed ’er 
ladyship come to the door an’ empty hot water out 
of a tea-pot.” 

“ Tea? Tea? ” said Lord Loudwater in the tone 
of one saying: “Arson! Arson!” 

Then, in all his black wrath, he perceived that he 
must have himself in hand to deal with the matter. 
He took a long draught of whisky-and-soda, rose, 
walked across the room and back again, grinding his 
teeth, rolling his eyes, and snapping the middle 
finger and thumb of his right hand. Never had the 
flush of rage been so deep in his face. It was almost 
purple. Never had his eyes protruded so far from 
his head. 

He stopped and said thickly : “ How long were 

they in the pavilion? ” 

“ In the pavilion, your lordship? They were 
there a longish while — an hour and a half maybe,” 
said William Roper, with quiet pride in the impres- 
sion his information had made on his employer. 


56 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

His employer looked at him as if it was the dearest 
wish of his heart to shake the life out of him then 
and there. It was the dearest wish of his heart. 
But he refrained. It would be a senseless act to slay 
the goose which lay these golden eggs of information. 

“ All right. Get out ! And keep your tongue be- 
tween your teeth, or I’ll cut it out for you ! Do you 
understand? Hey?” he roared, approaching Will- 
iam Roper with an air so menacing that the con- 
scientious fellow backed against the door with his 
arm up to shield his face. 

“ I ain’t a-going to say a word to no one ! ” he 
cried. 

“You’d better not! Get out!” snarled his em- 
ployer. 

William Roper got out. Trembling and perspir- 
ing freely, he walked straight through the Castle and 
out of the back door without pausing to say a word 
to any one, though he heard the voice of Holloway 
discussing his mysterious errand with Mary Hutch- 
ings in the servants’ hall. He had walked nearly 
a mile before he succeeded in convincing himself that 
his feet were firmly set on the royal road to Fortune. 
His conviction was ill-founded. 


CHAPTER IV 


F OR a good three minutes after the departure 
of William Roper the Lord Loudwater 
walked up and down the smoking-room. 
His redly-glinting eyes still rolled in a - terrifying 
fashion, and still every few seconds he snapped his 
fingers in the throes of an effort to make up his 
raging mind whether to begin by an attack on his 
wife or on Colonel Grey. He could not remember 
ever having been so angry in his life ; now and again 
his red eyes saw red. 

Then of a sudden he made up his mind that he 
was at the moment angrier with Colonel Grey. He 
would deal with him first. Olivia could wait. He 
hurried out to the stables and bellowed for a horse 
with such violence that two startled grooms saddled 
one for him in little more than a minute. 

He made no attempt to think what he would say 
to Colonel Grey. He was too angry. He galloped 
the two miles to the “ Cart and Horses ” at Belling- 
ham, where Colonel Grey was staying, in order to 
restore his health and to fish. 

At the door of the inn he bellowed: “Ostler! 

Then without waiting to see whether an 
57 


Ostler ! ” 


58 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ostler came, he threw the reins on his horse’s neck, 
left it to its own devices, strode into the tap-room, 
and bellowed to the affrighted landlady, Mrs. Turn- 
bull, to take him straight to Colonel Grey. Tremb- 
ling, she led him upstairs to Grey’s sitting-room on 
the first floor. Before she could knock, he opened 
the door, bounced through it, and slammed it. 

Grey was sitting at the other side of the table, 
looking through a book of flies. He appeared to be 
quite unmoved by the sudden entry of the infuriated 
nobleman, or by his raucous bellow : 

“ So here you are, you infernal scoundrel ! ” 

He looked at him with a cold, distasteful eye, and 
said in a clear, very unpleasant voice : “ Another 

time knock before you come into my room.” 

Lord Loudwater had not expected to be received 
in this fashion ; dimly he had seen Grey cowering. 

He paused, then said less loudly: “Knock? 
Hey? Knock? Knock at the door of an infernal 
scoundrel like you? ” His voice began to gather 
volume again. “ Likely I should take the trouble ! 
I know all about your scoundrelly game.” 

Colonel Grey remembered that Olivia had said that 
she proposed to deny the kiss, and his course was 
quite clear to him. 

“ I don’t know whether you’re drunk, or mad,” 
he said in a quiet, contemptuous voice. 

This again was not what Lord Loudwater had ex- 
pected. But Grey was a strong believer in the 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 59 

theory that the attacker has the advantage, and he 
had an even stronger belief that an enemy in a fury 
is far less dangerous than an enemy calm. 

“ You’re lying! You know I’m neither!” bel- 
lowed Lord Loudwater. “You kissed Olivia — 
Lady Loudwater — in the East wood. You know 
you did. You were seen doing it.” 

“ You’re raving, man,” said Colonel Grey quietly, 
in a yet more unpleasant tone. 

The interview was not going as Lord Loudwater 
had seen it. He had to swallow violently before he 
could say : “ You were seen doing it ! Seen ! By 

one of my gamekeepers ! ” 

“ You must have paid him to say so,” said Colonel 
Grey with quiet conviction. 

Lord Loudwater was a little staggered by the ac- 
cusation. He gasped and stuttered: “ D-D-Damn 
your impudence ! P-P-Paid to say it ! ” 

“ Yes, paid,” said Colonel Grey, without raising 
his voice. “ You happened to hear that we had tea 
in the pavilion in the wood — probably from Lady 
Loudwater herself — and you made up this stupid 
lie and paid your gamekeeper to tell it in order to 
score off her. It’s exactly the dog’s trick a bully- 
ing ruffian like you would play a woman.” 

“ D-D-Dog’s trick? Me?” stammered Lord 
Loudwater, gasping. 

He was used to saying things of this kind to other 
people; not to have them said to him. 


60 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“Yes, you. You know that you’re a wretched 
bully and cad,” said Colonel Grey, with just a little 
more warmth in his tone. 

Had Lord Loudwater’s belief that William Roper 
had told him the truth about the kiss been weaker, 
: t might have been shaken by the whole-hearted thor- 
oughness of Grey’s attack. But William Roper had 
impressed that belief on him deeply. He was sure 
Ihat Grey had kissed Lady Loudwater. 

The certainty spurred him to a fresh effort, and 
e cried: “It’s no good jmur trying to humbug 
me — none at all. I’ve got evidence — plenty of 
evidence! And I’m going to act on it, too. I’m 
going to hound you out of the Army and that jade 
of a wife of mine out of decent society. Do you 
think, because I don’t spend four or five months 
every year in that rotten hole, London, I haven’t 
got any influence? Hey? If you do, you’re damn 
well wrong. I’ve got more than enough twice over 
to clear a scoundrel like you out of the Army.” 

“ Don’t talk absurd nonsense ! ” said Grey calmly. 

“Nonsense? Hey? Absurd nonsense?” howled 
Lord Loudwater on a new note of exasperation. 

“ Yes, nonsense. A disreputable cad like you 
can’t hurt me in any way, and well you know it,” 
said Grey with painstaking distinctness. 

“Not hurt you? Hey? I can’t hurt the core- 
spondent in a divorce case? Hey?” said Lord 
Loudwater rather breathlessly. 


THE LOUDWATEK MYSTERY 61 

6i As if a man who has abused and bullied his wife 
as you have could get a divorce ! ” said Grey, and 
he laughed a gentle, contemptuous laugh, galling be- 
yond words. 

It galled Lord Loudwater surely enough ; he 
snapped his fingers four times and gibbered. 

“ I tell you what it is : I’ve had enough of your 
manners,” said Grey. “ What you want is a lesson. 
And if I hear that you’ve been bullying Lady Loud- 
water about this simple matter of my having had 
tea with her, I’ll give it you — with a horsewhip.” 

“You’ll give me a lesson? You?” whispered 
Lord Loudwater, and he danced a little frantically. 

“ Yes. I’ll give you the soundest thrashing any 
man hereabouts has had for the last twenty years, 
if I have to begin by knocking your ugly head off 
your shoulders,” said Grey, raising his clear voice, 
so that for the first time Mrs. Turnbull, trembling, 
but thrilled, on the landing, heard what was being 
said. 

The enunciation of Lord Loudwater had been 
thick, his words had been slurred. 

“You? You thrash me?” he howled. 

“ Yes, me. Now get out ! ” 

Lord Loudwater gnashed his teeth at him and 
again snapped his fingers. He burned to rush 
round the table and hammer the life out of Grey, 
but he could not do it; violent words, not violent 
deeds, were his accomplishment. Moreover, there 


62 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

was something daunting in Grey’s cold and steady 
eye. He snapped his fingers again, and, pouring out 
a stream of furious abuse, turned to the door and 
flung out of it. Mrs. Turnbull scuttled aside into 
Grey’s bedroom. 

Half-way down the stairs Lord Loudwater paused 
to bellow : “ I’ll ruin you yet, you scoundrel ! 

Mark my word! I will hound you out of the 
Army ! ” 

He flung out of the house and found that the ostler 
had taken his horse round to the stable, removed 
its bridle, and given it a feed of corn. He cursed 
him heartily. 

Grey rose, shut the door, and laughed gently. 
Then he frowned. Of a sudden he perceived that, 
natural as had been his manner of dealing with Lord 
Loudwater, he had handled him badly. At least, it 
was possible that he had handled him badly. It 
would have been wiser, perhaps, to have been suave 
and firm rather than firm and provoking. But it 
was not likely that suavity would have been of much 
use; the brute would probably have regarded it as 
weakness. But for Olivia’s sake he ought probably 
to have tried to soothe him. As it was, the brute had 
gone raging off and would vent his fury on her. 

What had he better do? 

He was not long perceiving that there was noth- 
ing that he could do. The natural thing was to go 
to the Castle and prevent her husband — by force. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 63 

if need be — from abusing and bullying Olivia. 
That was what his strongest instincts bade him do. 
It was quite impossible. It would compromise her 
beyond repair. He had done her harm enough by 
his impulsive indiscretion in the wood. His face 
slowly settled into a set scowl as he cudgelled his 
brains to find a way of coming effectually to her help. 
It seemed a vain effort, but a way had to be found. 

Lord Loudwater galloped half-way to the Castle 
in a furious haste to punish Olivia for allowing Grey 
to make love to her, and even more for the con- 
temptuous way in which Grey had treated him. He 
had hopes also of bullying her into a confession of 
the truth of William Roper’s story. But Grey had 
excited him to a height of fury at which not even he 
could remain without exhaustion. In a reaction he 
reined in his horse to a canter, then to a trot, and 
then to a walk. He found that he was feeling tired. 

He continued, however, to chafe at his injuries, 
but with less vehemence, and he was still resolved 
to make a strong effort to draw the confession from 
Olivia. On reaching the Castle, he did not go to 
her at once. He sat down in an easy chair in his 
smoking-room and drank two whiskies-and-sodas. 

In the background of Olivia’s mind, meditating 
pleasantly on her pleasant afternoon, there had been 
a patient and resigned expectation that presently 
her conscience would begin to reproach her for al- 
lowing Grey to make love to her. But the minutes 


64 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

slipped by, and she did not begin to feel that she 
had been wicked. The meditation remained pleas- 
ant. At last she realized suddenly that she was not 
going to feel wicked. She was surprised and even 
a trifle horror-stricken by her insensibility. Then, 
fairly faced by it, she came to the conclusion that, 
in a woman cursed with such a brute of a husband, 
such insensibility was not only natural, it was even 
proper. 

Her woman’s craving to be loved and to love was 
the strongest of her emotions, and it had gone un- 
satisfied for so long. Her husband had killed, or 
rather extirpated, her fondness for hun before they 
had been married a month. She was inclined to 
believe that she had never really loved him at all. 
He had certainly ceased to love her before they had 
been married a fortnight, if, indeed, he had ever 
loved her at all. She had no child ; she was an 
orphan without sisters or brothers. Her husband 
let her see but little of the friends who were fond of 
her. She began to suspect that her conscience did 
not reproach her because she had merely acted on 
her natural right to love and be loved. This con- 
clusion brought her mind again to the consideration 
of Antony Grey, and again she let her thoughts 
dwell on him. 

The gong, informing her that it was time to dress 
for dinner, interrupted this pleasant occupation. 
She had her bath, put herself into the hands of her 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 65 

maid, Elizabeth Twitcher, and resumed her medita- 
tion. She was at once so deeply absorbed in it that 
she did not observe her maid’s sullen and depressed 
air. 

She was presently interrupted again, and in a 
manner far more violent and startling than the sum- 
mons of the gong. The door was jerked open, and 
her refreshed husband strode into the room. 

“ I know all about your little game, madam ! ” he 
cried. “You’ve been letting that blackguard Grey 
make love to you ! You kissed him in the East wood 
this afternoon ! ” 

The mysterious smile faded from the face of Olivia, 
and an expression of the most natural astonishment 
took its place. 

“ I sometimes think that you are quite mad, Eg- 
bert,” she said in her slow, musical voice. 

Elizabeth Twitcher continued her deft manipula- 
tion of a thick strand of hair without any change in 
her sullen and depressed air. To all seeming, she 
was uninterested, or deaf. 

Lord Loudwater had expected, in the face of 
Olivia’s gentleness, to have to work himself up to 
a proper height of indignant fury by degrees. The 
echo of Grey’s accusation from the mouth of his 
wife raised him to it on the instant and without an 
effort. 

“ Don’t lie to me ! ” he bellowed. “ It’s no good 
whatever ! I tell you, I know ! ” 


66 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Olivia was surprised to find herself wholly free 
from her old fear of him. The fact that she was 
in love with Grey and he with her had already worked 
a change in her. These were the only things in the 
world of any real importance. That clear knowl- 
edge gave her a new confidence and a new strength. 
Her husband had been able to frighten her nearly 
out of her wits. Now he could not; and she could 
use them. 

“ I’m not lying at all. I really do believe you’re 
mad — often,” she said very distinctly. 

Once more Lord Loudwater was compelled to grind 
his teeth. Then he laughed a harsh, barking laugh, 
and cried: “It’s no good! I’ve just had a short 
interview with that scoundrel Grey. And I put the 
fear of God into him, I can tell you. I made him 
admit that you ’d kissed him in the East wood.” 

For a breath Olivia was taken aback. Then she 
perceived clearly that it was a lie. He could not 
put the fear of God into Grey. Besides, Grey had 
kissed her, not she him. 

“ It’s you who are lying,” she said quickly and 
with spirit. “ How could Colonel Grey admit a 
thing that never happened? ” 

Lord Loudwater perceived that it was going to 
be harder to wring the confession from her than 
he had expected. Checked, he paused. Then Eliza- 
beth Twitcher caught his attention. 

“ Here : you — clear out ! ” he said. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 67 

Elizabeth Twitcher caught her mistress’s eye in 
the glass. Olivia made no sign. 

“ I can’t leave her ladyship’s hair in this state, 
your lordship,” said Elizabeth Twitcher with sullen 
firmness. 

“ You do as you’re told and clear out ! ” bellowed 
his lordship. 

“ I don’t want to be half an hour late for dinner,” 
said Olivia, accepting the diversion and ready to 
make the most of it. 

Elizabeth Twitcher looked at Lord Loudwater, 
saw more clearly than ever his likeness to the loathed 
James Hutchings, and made up her mind to do noth- 
ing that he bade her do. She went on dressing her 
mistress’s hair sullenly. 

“ Are you going? Or am I to throw you out of 
the room? ” cried Lord Loudwater in a blustering 
voice. 

“ Don’t be silly, Egbert ! ” said Olivia sharply. 

From the height of her new emotional experience 
she felt that her husband was merely a noisy and 
obnoxious boy. This was, indeed, quite plain to her. 
She felt years older than he and very much wiser. 

Lord Loudwater, with a quite unusual glimmer 
of intelligence, perceived that bringing Elizabeth 
Twitcher into the matter had been a mistake. It 
had weakened his main action. In a less violent but 
more malevolent voice he said: 

66 Silly? Hey? I’ll show you all about that, you 


68 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

little jade! You clear out of this first thing to- 
morrow morning. My lawyers will settle your hash 
for you. I’ll deal with that blackguard Grey myself. 
I’ll hound him out of the Army inside of a month. 
Perhaps it’ll be a consolation to you to know that 
you’ve done him in as well as yourself.” 

He turned on his heel, left the room with a posi- 
tively melodramatic stride, and slammed the door 
behind him. 

Olivia was stricken by a sudden panic. She had 
lost all fear of her husband as far as she herself 
was concerned. He had become a mere offensive 
windbag. She did not care whether he did, or did 
not, try to divorce her. Even on the terms of so 
great a scandal it would be a cheap deliverance. But 
Antony was another matter. . . . She could not 
bear that he should be ruined on her account. . . . 
It was intolerable . . . not to be thought of. . . . 
She must find some way of preventing it. 

She began to cudgel her brains for that way of 
preventing it, but in vain. She could devise no plan. 
The more she considered the matter, the worse it 
grew. She could not bear to be associated in An- 
tony’s mind with disaster; she desired most keenly to 
stand for everything that was pleasant and delight- 
ful in his life. She would not let her brute of a hus- 
band spoil both their lives. He had already spoiled 
enough of hers. 

After his injunction to her to leave the Castle 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 69 

first thing next morning, she took it that they 
would hardly dine together, and told Elizabeth 
Twitcher to tell Wilkins to serve her dinner in her 
boudoir. Also, she refused to put on an evening 
gown, saying that the peignoir she was wearing 
was more comfortable on such a hot night. Last 
of all, she told her to pack some of her clothes that 
night. 

Elizabeth Twitcher, stirred somewhat out of her 
brooding on her own troubles by this trouble of her 
mistress, looked at her thoughtfully and said: “I 
shouldn’t go, m’lady. It’ll look as if you agreed 
with what his lordship said. And it’s only William 
Roper as has been telling these lies. He asked to 
see his lordship about something very partic’ler be- 
fore his lordship went out. And who’s going to 
pay any heed to William Roper? ” 

“William Roper? Who is William Roper? 
What kind of a man is he? ” said Olivia quickly. 

“ He’s an under-gamekeeper, m’lady, and the big- 
gest little beast on the estate. Everybody hates 
William Roper,” said Elizabeth with conviction. 

This was satisfactory as far as it went. The 
worse her husband’s evidence was the freer it left 
her to take her own course of action. But it was 
no great comfort, for she was but little concerned 
about the harm he could do her. Indeed, she was 
only concerned about the harm he could do Antony. 
She returned to her search for a method of prevent- 


70 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ing that harm during her dinner, and after her din- 
ner she continued that search without any success. 
This injury to Antony, for her the central fact of 
the situation, weighed on her spirit more and more 
heavily. 

The longer she pondered it the more harassed she 
grew. The most fantastic schemes ‘for baulking her 
husband and saving Antony came thronging into 
her mind. She rose and walked restlessly up and 
down the room, working herself up into a veritable 
fever. 

Mr. Manley, having dealt with the letters which 
had come by the five-o’clock post, read half a dozen 
chapters of the last published novel of Artzybachev 
with the pleasure he never failed to draw from the 
works of that author. Then he dressed and set 
forth, in a very cheerful spirit, to dine with Helena 
Truslove. His cheerful expectations were wholly 
fulfilled. She had divined that he was endowed, 
not only with a romantic spirit, but with a hearty 
and discriminating appetite, and was careful to give 
him good food and wine and plenty of both. With 
his coffee he smoked one of Lord Loudwater’s favour- 
ite cigars. Expanding naturally, he talked with 
spirit and intelligence during dinner, and made love 
to her after dinner with even more spirit and intel- 
ligence. As a rule, he stayed on the nights he dined 
with her till a quarter to eleven. But that night 
she dismissed him at ten o’clock, saying that she 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 71 

was feeling tired and wished to go to bed early. 
Smoking another of Lord Loudwater’s favourite 
cigars, he walked briskly back to the Castle, more 
firmly convinced than ever that every possible step 
must be taken to prevent any diminution of the in- 
come of a woman of such excellent taste in food and 
wine. It would be little short of a crime to dis- 
courage the exercise of her fine natural gift for 
stimulating the genius of a promising dramatist. 

He was not in the habit of going to bed early, 
and having put on slippers and an old and comfort- 
able coat, he once more turned to the novel by 
Artzybachev. He read two more chapters, smoking 
a pipe, and then he became aware that he was thirsty. 

He could have mixed himself a whisky and soda 
then and there, for he had both in the cupboaru in 
his sitting-room. But he was a stickler for the 
proprieties: he had drunk red wine, Burgundy with 
his dinner and port after it, and after red wine 
brandy is the proper spirit. There would be brandy 
in the tantalus in the small dining-room. 

He went quietly down the stairs. The big hall, 
lighted by a single electric bulb, was very dim, and 
he took it that, as was their habit, the servants 
had already gone to bed. As he came to the bottom 
of the stairs the door at the back of the hall opened; 
James Hutchings came through the doorway and 
shut the door quietly ‘behind him. 

Mr. Manley stood still. James Hutchings came 


72 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

very quietly down the hall, saw him, and started. 

“ Good evening, Hutchings. I thought you’d left 
us,” said Mr. Manley, in a rather unpleasant tone. 

“You may take your oath to it!” said James 
Hutchings truculently, in a much more unpleasant 
tone than Mr. Manley had used. “ I just came 
back to get a box of cigarettes I left in the cupboard 
of my pantry. I don’t want any help in smoking 
them from any one here.” 

He opened the library door gently, went quietly 
through it, and drew it to behind him, leaving Mr. 
Manley frowning at it. It was a fact that Hutch- 
ings carried a packet, which might very well have 
been cigarettes ; but Mr. Manley did not believe his 
story of his errand. He took it that he was leaving 
the Castle by one of the library windows. Well, it 
was no business of his. 

At a few minutes past eight the next morning he 
was roused from the deep dreamless sleep which fol- 
lows good food and good wine well digested, by a 
loud knocking on his door. It was not the loud, 
steady and prolonged knocking which the third 
housemaid found necessary to wake him. It was 
more vigorous and more staccato and jerkier. Also, 
a voice was calling loudly : 

“ Mr. Manley, sir ! Mr. Manley ! Mr. Manley ! ” 

For all the noise and insistence of the calling Mr. 
Manley did not awake quickly. It took him a good 
minute to realize that he was Herbert Manley and 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 73 

in bed, and half a minute longer to gather that the 
knocking and calling were unusual and uncommonly 
urgent. He sat up in bed and yawned terrifically. 

Then he slipped out of bed — the knocking and 
calling still continued — unlocked the door, and 
found Holloway, the second footman, on the thresh- 
old looking scared and horror-stricken. 

“ Please, sir, his lordship’s dead ! ” he cried. 
“ He’s bin murdered ! Stabbed through the 
’eart ! ” 


CHAPTER V 


M 


“"m nr URDERED? Lord Loudwater? ” said 
Mr. Manley with another terrific yawn, 
and he rubbed his eyes. Then he 
awoke completely and said: “Send a groom for 
Black the constable at once. Yes — and tell Wil- 
kins to telephone the news to the Chief Inspector at 
Low Wycombe. Hurry up 1 I’ll get dressed and be 
down in a few minutes. Hurry up ! ” 

Holloway turned to go. 

“ Stop ! ” said Mr. Manley. “ Tell Wilkins to see 
that no one disturbs Lady Loudwater. I’ll break 
the news myself when she is dressed.” 

“ Yes, sir,” said Holloway, and ran down the cor- 
ridor. 

Mr. Manley was much quicker than usual making 
his toilet, but thorough. He foresaw a hard and 
trying day before him, and he wished to start it 
fresh and clean. He would come into contact with 
new people; he saw himself playing an important 
role in a most important affair; he would naturally 
and as usual make himself valued. A slovenly air did 
not conduce to that. It seemed fitting to put on 
his darkest tweed suit and a black necktie. 

74 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 75 

When he came — briskly for him — downstairs he 
found a group of women servants in the hall, outside 
the door of the smoking-room, three of them snivel- 
ling, and Wilkins and Holloway in the smoking-room 
itself, standing and staring with a wholly helpless 
air at the body of Lord Loudwater, huddled in the 
easy chair in which he had been wont to sleep after 
dinner every evening. 

“ He’s been stabbed, sir. There’s that knife which 
was in the inkstand on the library table stickin’ in ’is 
’eart,” said Wilkins in a dismal voice. 

Mr. Manley glanced at the dead man. He looked 
to have been stabbed as he slept. His body had 
sagged down in the chair, and his head was sunk be- 
tween his shoulders, so that he appeared almost 
neckless. His once so florid face was of an even, 
dead, yellowish pallor. 

Mr. Manley’s glance at the dead man was brief. 
Then he saw that the door between the smoking- 
room and the library was ajar. He could not see 
the library windows without crossing the smoking- 
room. That he would not do. He was a stickler for 
correctness in all matters, and he knew that the 
scene of a crime must be left untrampled. 

He turned and said : “ We will leave everything 

just as it is till the police come. And telephone 
at once to Doctor Thornhill, and ask him to come. 
If he is out, tell them to get word to him, Wilkins.” 

Wilkins and Holloway filed out of the room before 


76 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

him; he followed them out, locked the door and put 
the key in his pocket. Then he opened the door from 
the hall into the library. The long window nearest 
the smoking-room door was open. 

The group of servants were all watching him ; 
never had he moved or acted with an air of graver 
or greater importance. His portliness gave it 
weight. 

“ Has any of you opened the windows of the 
library this morning? ” he said. 

No one answered. 

Then Mrs. Carruthers, the housekeeper, said : 
“ Clarke does the library every morning. Have you 
done it this morning, Clarke? ” 

“ No, mum. I hadn’t finished the green droring- 
room when Mr. Holloway brought the sad news,” 
said one of the housemaids. 

Mr. Manley locked the library door and put that 
key also in his pocket. 

Then he said in a tone of authority : “ I think, 

Mrs. Carruthers, that the sooner we all have break- 
fast the better. I for one am going to have a hard 
day, and I shall need all my strength. We all 
shall.” 

“ Certainly, Mr. Manley. You’re quite right. 
We shall all need our strength. You shall have 
your breakfast at once. I’ll have it sent to the 
little dining-room. You would like to be on the 
spot. Come along, girls. Wilkins, and you, Hoi- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 77 

loway, get on with your work as quickly as you can,” 
said Mrs. Carruthers, driving her flock before her 
towards the servants’ quarters. 

44 Thank you. And will you see that no one 
w r akes Lady Loudwater before her usual hour, or 
tells her what has happened? I will tell her myself 
and try to break the news with as little of a shock 
as possible,” said Mr. Manley. 

44 Twitcher hasn’t bin downstairs yet. She 
doesn’t know anything about it,” said one of the 
maids. 

44 Send her straight to me — to the terrace when 
she does come down,” said Mr. Manley, walking 
towards the hall door. 

He felt that after the sight of the dead man’s face 
the fresh morning air would do him good. 

There came a sudden burst of excited chatter from 
the women as they passed beyond the door into the 
back of the Castle. All their tongues seemed to be 
loosed at once. Mr. Manley w r ent out of the Castle 
door, crossed the drive, and walked up and down the 
lawn. He took long breaths through his nostrils; 
the sight of the dead man’s yellowish face had been 
unpleasant indeed to a man of his sensibility. 

In about five minutes Elizabeth Twitcher came 
out of the big door and across the lawn to him. She 
was looking startled and scared. 

44 Mrs. Carruthers said you wished to speak to 
me, sir? ” she said quickly. 


78 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ Yes. I propose to break the news of this very 
shocking affair to Lady Loudwater myself. She’s 
rather fragile, I fancy. And I think that it needs 
doing with the greatest possible tact — 7 so as to 
lessen the shock,” said Mr. Manley in an impressive 
voice. 

Elizabeth Twitcher gazed at him with a growing 
suspicion in her eyes. Then she said : “ It isn’t — 

it isn’t a trap? ” 

“ A trap? What kind of a trap? What on earth 
do you mean ? ” said Mr. Manley, in a not unnatural 
bewilderment at the odd suggestion. 

“ You might be trying to take her off her guard,” 
said Elizabeth Twitcher in a tone of deep suspicion. 

“Her guard against what?” said Mr. Manley, 
still bewildered. 

Elizabeth’s Twitcher’s eyes lost some of their sus- 
picion, and he heard her breathe a faint sigh of relief. 

“ I thought as ’ow — as how some of them might 
have told you what his lordship was going to do to 
her, and that she — she stuck that knife into him so 
as to stop it,” she said. 

“What on earth are you talking about? What 
was his lordship going to do to her? ” cried Mr. 
Manley, in a tone of yet greater bewilderment. 

“ He was going to divorce her ladyship. He told 
her so last night when I was doing her hair for 
dinner,” said Elizabeth Twitcher. 

She paused and stared at him, frowning. Then 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 79 

she went on : 44 And, like a fool, I went and talked 

about it — to some one else.” 

Mr. Manley glared at her in a momentary speech- 
lessness ; then found his voice and cried : 44 But, 

gracious heavens! You don’t suspect her ladyship 
of having murdered Lord LoudwaterP ” 

44 No, I don’t. But there’ll be plenty as will,” 
said Elizabeth Twitcher with conviction. 

44 It’s absurd ! ” cried Mr. Manley. 

Elizabeth Twitcher shook her head. 

44 You must allow as she had reason enough — 
for a lady, that is. He was always swearing at her 
and abusing her, and it isn’t at all the kind of thing 
a lady can stand. And this divorce coming on the 
top of it all,” she said in a dispassionate tone. 

44 You mustn’t talk like this! There’s no saying 
what trouble you may make ! ” cried Mr. Manley in 
a tone of stern severity. 

44 I’m not going to talk like that — only to you, 
sir. You’re a gentleman, and it’s safe. What I’m 
afraid of is that I’ve talked too much already — 
last night that is,” she said despondently. 

44 Well, don’t make it worse by talking any more. 
And let me know when your mistress is dressed, and 
I’ll come up and break the news of this shocking 
affair to her.” 

44 Very good, sir,” said Elizabeth, and with a 
gloomy face and depressed air she went back into the 
Castle. 


80 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

She had scarcely disappeared, when Holloway 
came out to tell Mr. Manley that his breakfast was 
ready for him in the little dining-room. Mr. Manley 
set about it with the firmness of a man preparing 
himself against a strenuous day. The frown with 
which Elizabeth Twitcher’s suggestion had puckered 
his brow faded from it slowly, as the excellence of 
the chop he was eating soothed him. Holloway 
waited on him, and Mr. Manley asked him whether 
any of the servants had heard anything suspicious 
in the night. Holloway assured him that none of 
them had. 

Mr. Manley had just helped himself a second time 
to eggs and bacon when Wilkins brought in Robert 
Black, the village constable. Mr. Manley had seen 
him in the village often enough, a portly, grave man, 
who regarded his position and work with the proper 
official seriousness. Mr. Manley told him that he 
had locked the door of the smoking-room and of the 
library, in order that the scene of the crime might 
be left undisturbed for examination by the Low 
Wycombe police. Robert Black did not appear 
pleased by this precaution. He would have liked to 
demonstrate his importance by making some pre- 
liminary investigations himself. Mr. Manley did 
not offer to hand the keys over to him. He intended 
to have the credit of the precautions he had taken 
with the constable’s superiors. 

He said : “ I suppose you would like to question 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 81 

the servants to begin with. Take the constable to 
the servants’ hall, give him a glass of beer, and 
let him get to work, Wilkins.” 

He spoke in the imperative tone proper to a man 
in charge of such an important affair, and Robert 
Black went. Mr. Manley could not see that the 
grave fellow could do any harm by his questions, or, 
for that matter, any good. 

He finished his breakfast and lighted his pipe. 
Elizabeth Twitcher came to tell him that Lady Loud- 
water was dressed. He told her to tell her that he 
would like to see her, and followed her up the stairs. 
The maid went into Lady Loudwater’s sitting-room, 
came out, and ushered him into it. 

His strong sense of the fitness of things caused 
him to enter the room slowly, with an air grave to 
solemnity. Olivia greeted him with a faint, rather 
forced smile. 

He thought that she was paler than usual, and 
lacked something of her wonted charm. She seemed 
rather nervous. She thought that he had come from 
her husband with an unpleasant and probably most 
insulting message. 

He cleared his throat and said in the deep, grave 
voice he felt appropriate : “ I’ve come on a very 

painful errand, Lady Loudwater — a very painful 
errand.” 

“ Indeed? ” she said, and looked at him with un- 
easy, anxious eyes. 


82 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I’m sorry to tell you that Lord Loudwater 
has had an accident, a very bad accident,” he 
said. 

“An accident? Egbert? ” she cried, in a tone of 
surprise that sounded genuine enough. 

It gave Mr. Manley to understand that she had 
expected some other kind of painful communication 
— doubtless about the divorce Lord Loudwater had 
threatened. But he had composed a series of 
phrases leading up by a nice gradation to the final 
announcement, and he went on: “Yes. There is 
very little likelihood of his recovering from it.” 

Olivia looked at him queerly, hesitating. Then 
she said: “Do you mean that he’s going to be a 
cripple for life? ” 

“ I mean that he will not live to be a cripple,” 
said Mr. Manley, pleased to insert a further phrase 
into his series. 

“ Is it as bad as that? ” she said, in a tone which 
again gave Mr. Manley the impression that she was 
thinking of something else and had not realized the 
seriousness of his words. 

“ I’m sorry to say that it’s worse than that. Lord 
Loudwater is dead,” he said, in his deepest, most 
sympathetic voice. 

“Dead?” she said, in a shocked tone which 
sounded to him rather forced. 

“ Murdered,” he said. 

“ Murdered? ” cried Olivia, and Mr. Manley had 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 83 

the feeling that there was less surprise than relief 
in her tone. 

“ I have sent for Dr. Thornhill and the police from 
Low Wycombe,” he said. “ They ought to have 
been here before this. And I am going to telegraph 
to Lord Loudwater’s solicitors. You would like to 
have their help as soon as possible, I suppose. 
There seems nothing else to be done at the moment.” 

“ Then you don’t know who did it? ” said Olivia. 

Her tone did not display a very lively interest in 
the matter or any great dismay, and Mr. Manley 
felt somewhat disappointed. He had expected much 
more emotion from her than she was displaying, 
even though the death of her ill-tempered husband 
must be a considerable relief. He had expected her 
to be shocked and horror-stricken at first, before 
she realized that she had been relieved of a painful 
burden. But she seemed to him to be really less 
moved by the murder of her husband than she would 
have been, had the Lord Loudwater carried out his 
not infrequent threat of shooting, or hanging, or 
drowning the cat Melchisidec. 

44 No one so far seems to be able to throw any 
light at all on the crime,” said Mr. Manley. 

Olivia frowned thoughtfully, but seemed to have 
no more to say on the matter. 

64 Well, then, I’ll telegraph to Paley and Carring- 
ton, and ask Mr. Carrington to come down,” said 
Mr. Manley. 


84 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

u Please,” said Olivia. 

Mr. Manley hesitated ; then he said : “ And I 

suppose that I’d better be getting some one to make 
arrangements about the funeral? ” 

66 Please do everything you think necessary,” said 
Olivia. “ In fact, you’d better manage everything 
till Mr. Carrington comes. A man is much better 
at arranging important matters like this than a 
woman.” 

“ You may rely on me,” said Mr. Manley, with a 
reassuring air, and greatly pleased by this recog- 
nition of his capacity. “ And allow me to assure 
you of my sincerest sympathy.” 

“ Thank you,” said Olivia, and then with more 
animation and interest she added : “ And I suppose 

I shall want some black clothes.” 

“ Shall I write to your dressmaker? ” said Mr. 
Manley. 

“ No, thank you. I shall be able to tell her what 
I want better myself.” 

Mr. Manley withdrew in a pleasant temper. It 
was true that as a student of dramatic emotion he 
had been disappointed by the calmness with which 
Olivia had received the news of the murder; but 
she had instructed him to do everything he thought 
fit. He saw his way to controlling the situation, 
and ruling the Castle till some one with a better 
right should supersede him. He was halfway along 
the corridor before he realized that Olivia had asked 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 85 

no single question about the circumstance of the 
crime. Indifference could go no further. But — 
he paused, considering — was it indifference? 
Could she — could she have known already? 

As he came down the stairs Wilkins opened the 
door of the big hall, and a man of medium height, 
wearing a tweed suit and carrying a soft hat and 
a heavy malacca cane, entered briskly. He looked 
about thirty. On his heels came a tall, thin police 
inspector in uniform. 

Mr. Manley came forward, and the man in the 
tweed suit said : “ My name is Flexen, George 

Flexen. I’m acting as Chief Constable. Major 
Arbuthnot is away for a month. I happened to be 
at the police station at Low Wycombe when your 
news came, and I thought it best to come myself. 
This is Inspector Perkins.” 

Mr. Manley introduced himself as the secretary 
of the murdered man, and with an air of quiet im- 
portance told Mr. Flexen that Lady Loudwater had 
put him in charge of the Castle till her lawyer came. 
Then he took the keys of the smoking-room and the 
library door from his pocket and said: 

“ I locked up the room in which the dead body 
is, and the library through which there is also access 
to it, leaving everything just as it was when the body 
was found. I do not think that any traces which 
the criminal has left, if, that is, he has left any, can 
have been obliterated.” 


86 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

He spoke with the quiet pride of a man who has 
done the right thing in an emergency. 

“ That’s good,” said Mr. Flexen, in a tone of 
warm approval. “ It isn’t often that we get a 
clear start like that. We’ll examine these rooms at 
once.” 

Mr. Manley went to the door of the smoking- 
room and was about to unlock it, when Dr. Thorn- 
hill, a big, bluff man of fifty-five, bustled in. Mr. 
Manley introduced him to Mr. Flexen; then he un- 
locked the door and opened it. 

The doctor was leading the way into the smoking- 
room when Mr. Flexen stepped smartly in front of 
him and said : “ Please stay outside all of you. 

I’ll make the examination myself first.” 

He spoke quietly, but in the tone of a man used 
to command. 

“ But, for anything we know, his lordship may still 
be alive,” said Dr. Thornhill in a somewhat blustering 
tone, and pushing forward. “ As his medical ad- 
viser, it’s my duty to make sure at once.” 

“ I’ll tell you whether Lord Loudwater is alive or 
not. Don’t let any one cross the threshold, Per- 
kins,” said Mr. Flexen, with quiet decision. 

Perkins laid a hand on the doctor’s arm, and the 
doctor said: “A nice way of doing things! Ar- 
buthnot would have given his first attention to his 
lordship ! ” 

“ I’m going to,” said Mr. Flexen quietly. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 87 

He went to the dead man, looked in his pale face, 
lifted his hand, let it fall, and said: “Been dead 
hours.” 

Then he examined carefully the position of the 
knife. He was more than a minute over it. Then 
he drew it gingerly from the wound by the ring at 
the end of it. It was one of these Swedish knives, 
the blades of which are slipped into the handle when 
they are not being used. 

“ I think that’s the knife that lay, open, in the 
big ink-stand in the library. We used it as a paper- 
knife, and to cut string with,” said Mr. Manley, 
who was watching him with most careful atten- 
tion. 

“ It may have some evidence on the handle,” said 
Mr. Flexen, still holding it by the ring, and he drove 
the point of it into the pad of blotting paper on 
which Mr. Manley had been wont to write letters 
at the murdered man’s dictation. 

“ And how am I to tell whether the wound was 
self-inflicted, or not?” cried the doctor in an ag- 
grieved tone. 

“ If you will get some of the servants, you can 
remove the body to any room convenient and make 
your examination. It’s a clean stab into the heart, 
and it looks to me as if the person who used that 
knife had some knowledge of anatomy. Most people 
who strike for the heart get the middle of the left 
lung,” said Mr. Flexen. 


88 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

So saying, he gently drew the easy chair, in which 
the body was huddled, nearer the door by its back. 
Mr. Manley bade Holloway fetch Wilkins and two of 
the grooms, and then, eager for hints of the actions 
of a detective, so useful to a dramatist, gave all his 
attention again to the proceedings of Mr. Flexen, 
who was down on one knee on the spot in which 
the chair had stood, studying the carpet round it. 
He rose and walked slowly towards the door which 
opened into the library, paused on the threshold to 
bid Perkins examine the chair and the clothes of the 
murdered man, and went into the library. 

He was still in it when the footman and the grooms 
lifted the body of Lord Loudwater out of the chair, 
and carried it up to his bedroom. Mr. Manley 
stayed on the threshold of the smoking-room. His 
interst in the doings of Mr. Flexen forbade him 
leaving it to superintend decorously the removal of 
the body. 

Presently Mr. Flexen came back, and as he walked 
round the room, examining the rest of it, especially 
the carpet, Mr. Manley studied the man himself, the 
detective type. He was about five feet eight, broad- 
shouldered out of proportion to that height, but 
thin. He had an uncommonly good forehead, a 
square, strong chin, a hooked nose and thin, set 
lips, which gave him a rather predatory air, belied 
rather by his pleasant blue eyes. The sun wrinkles 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 89 

round their corners and his sallow complexion gave 
Mr. Manley the impression that he had spent some 
years in the tropics and suffered for it. 

When Mr. Flexen had examined the room, though 
Inspector Perkins had already done so, he felt round 
the cushions of the easy chair in which Lord Loud- 
water had been stabbed, found nothing, and stood 
beside it in quiet thought. 

Then he looked at Mr. Manley and said : “ The 

murderer must have been some one with whom Lord 
Loudwater was so familiar that he took no notice of 
his or her movements, for he came up to him from 
the front, or walked round the chair to the front 
of him, and stabbed him with a quite straightforward 
thrust. Lord Loudwater should have actually seen 
the knife — unless by any chance he was asleep.” 

“ He was sure to be asleep,” said Mr. Manley 
quickly. “ He always did sleep in the evening — 
generally from the time he finished his cigar till he 
went to bed. I think he acquired the habit from 
coming back from hunting, tired and sleepy. Be- 
sides, I came down for a drink between eleven and 
twelve, and I’m almost sure I heard him snore. He 
snored like the devil.” 

“ Slept every evening, did he? That puts a dif- 
ferent complexion on the business,” said Mr. Flexen. 
“ The murderer need not have been any one with 
whom he was familiar.” 


90 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ No. He need not. But are you quite sure that 
the wound wasn’t self-inflicted — that it wasn’t a 
case of suicide? ” said Mr. Manley. 

“ No, I’m not; and I don’t think that that doctor 
— what’s his name? Thornhill — can be sure 
either. But why should Lord Loudwater have com- 
mitted suicide? ” 

“ Well, he had found out, or thought he had found 
out, something about Lady Loudwater, and was 
threatening to start an action against her for di- 
vorce. At least, so her maid told me this morning. 
And as he wholly lacked balance, he might in a fury 
of jealousy have made away with himself,” said Mr. 
Manley thoughtfully. 

“ Was he so fond of Lady Loudwater? ” said Mr. 
Flexen in a somewhat doubtful tone. 

He had heard stories about Lord Loudwater’s 
treatment of his wife. 

“ He didn’t show any great fondness for her, I’m 
bound to say. In fact, he was always bullying her. 
But he wouldn’t need to be very fond of any one 
to go crazy with jealousy about her. Lie was a 
man of strong passions and quite unbalanced. I 
suppose he had been so utterly spoilt as a child, a 
boy, and a young man, that he never acquired any 
power of self-control at all.” 

“ M’m, I should have thought that in that case 
he’d have been more likely to murder the man,” said 
Mr. Flexen. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 91 

“ He was,” said Mr. Manley in ready agreement. 
“ But the other’s always possible.” 

“ Yes ; one has to bear every possibility in mind,” 
said Mr. Flexen. “ I’ve heard that he was a bad- 
tempered man.” 

“ He was the most unpleasant brute I ever came 
across in my life,” said Mr. Manley with heartfelt 
conviction. 

“Then he had enemies?” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Scores, I should think. But, of course, I don’t 
know. Only I can’t conceive his having had a 
friend,” said Mr. Manley in a tone of some bitter- 
ness. 

“ Then it’s certainly a case with possibilities,” said 
Mr. Flexen in a pleased tone. “ But I expect that 
the solution will be quite simple. It generally is.” 

He said it rather sadly, as if he would have much 
preferred the solution to be difficult. 

“ Let’s hope so. A big newspaper fuss will be 
detestable for Lady Loudwater. She’s a charming 
creature,” said Mr. Manley. 

“ So I’ve heard. Do you know who the man was 
that Loudwater was making a fuss about?” 

“ I haven’t the slightest idea. Probably the maid, 
Elizabeth Twitcher, will be able to tell yeiv” said 
Mr. Manley. 

Mr. Flexen walked across the room and drew the 
knife out of the pad of blotting-paper by the ring in 
its handle, and studied it. 


92 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I suppose this is the knife that was in the li- 
brary? They’re pretty common,” he said. 

Mr. Manley came to him, looked at it earnestly, 
and said: “ That’s it all right. I tried to sharpen 
it a day or two ago, so that it would sharpen a pencil. 
I generally leave my penknife in the waist-coat I’m 
not wearing. But I couldn’t get it sharp enough. 
It’s rotten steel.” 

“ All of them are, but good enough for a stab,” 
said Mr. Flexen. 


CHAPTER VI 


O LIVIA had very little appetite for break- 
fast. It is to be doubted, indeed, whether 
she was aware of what she was eating. 
Elizabeth Twitcher hovered about her, solicitous, 
pressing her to eat more. She was fond of her mis- 
tress, and very uneasy lest she should have harmed 
her seriously by her careless gossiping the night be- 
fore. But she was surprised by the exceedingly 
anxious and worried expression which dwelt on 
Olivia’s face. Her air grew more and more harassed. 
The murder of her husband had doubtless been a 
shock, but he had been such a husband. Elizabeth 
Twitcher had expected her mistress to cry a little 
about his death, and then grow serene as she realized 
what a good riddance it was. But Olivia had not 
cried, and she showed no likelihood whatever of be- 
coming serene. 

At the end of her short breakfast she lit a ciga- 
rette, and began to pace up and down her sitting- 
room with a jerky, nervous gait, quite unlike her 
wonted graceful, easy, swinging walk. She had to 
relight her cigarette, and as she did so, Elizabeth 

Twitcher, who was clearing away the breakfast, per- 
93 


94 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ceived that her hands were shaking. There was 
plainly more in the matter than Elizabeth Twitcher 
had supposed, and she wondered, growing more and 
more uneasy. 

When she went downstairs with the tray she learned 
that Dr. Thornhill was examining the wound which 
had caused the Lord Loudwater’s death, and that 
Mr. Flexen and Inspector Perkins were questioning 
Wilkins. Talking to the other servants, she found 
of a sudden that she had reason for anxiety herself, 
and hurried back in a panic to her mistress’s boudoir. 
She found Olivia still walking nervously up and 
down. 

“ The inspector and the gentleman who is acting 
Chief Constable are questioning the servants, 
m’lady,” said Elizabeth. 

Olivia stopped short and stared at her with rather 
scared eyes. 

Then she said sharply : “ Go down and learn 

what the servants have told them — all the servants 
— everything.” 

Her mistress’s plainly greater anxiety eased a lit- 
tle Elizabeth Twitcher’s own panic in the matter 
of James Hutchings, and she went down again to 
the servants’ quarters. 

Mr. Flexen and Inspector Perkins learnt nothing 
of importance from Wilkins ; but he made it clearer 
to Mr. Flexen that the temper of the murdered man 
had indeed been abominable. Holloway, on the other 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 95 

hand, proved far more enlightening. From him they 
learnt that Hutchings had been discharged the day 
before without notice, and that he had uttered violent 
threats against his employer before he went. Also 
they learnt that Hutchings, who had left about four 
o’clock in the afternoon, had come back to the 
Castle at night. Jane Pittaway, an under-house- 
maid, had heard him talking to Elizabeth Twitcher in 
the blue drawing-room between eleven and half-past. 

Mr. Flexen questioned Holloway at length, and 
learned that James Hutchings was a man of uncom- 
monly violent temper; that it had been a matter of 
debate in the servants’ hall whether his furies or 
those of their dead master were the worse. Then he 
dismissed Holloway, and sent for Jane Pittaway. 
A small, sharp-eyed, sharp-featured young woman, 
she was quite clear in her story. About eleven the 
night before she had gone into the great hall to 
bring away two vases full of flowers, to be emptied 
and washed next morning, and coming past the door 
of the blue drawing-room, had heard voices. She 
had listened and recognized the voices of Hutchings 
and Elizabeth Twitcher. No ; she had not heard 
what they were saying. The door was too thick. 
But he seemed to be arguing with her. Yes ; she had 
been surprised to find him in the house after he had 
gone off like that. Besides, everybody thought that 
he had jilted Elizabeth Twitcher and was keeping 
company with Mabel Evans, who had come home 


96 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

on a holiday from her place in London to her moth- 
er’s in the village. No; she did not know how long 
he stayed. She minded her own business, but, if any 
one asked her, she must say that he was more likely 
to murder some one than any one she knew, for he 
had a worse temper than his lordship even, and 
bullied every one he came near worse than his lord- 
ship. In fact, she had never been able to understand 
how Elizabeth Twitcher could stand him, though of 
course every one knew that Elizabeth could always 
give as good as she got. 

When Mr. Flexen thanked her and said that she 
might go, she displayed a desire to remain and give 
them her further views on the matter. But Inspec- 
tor Perkins shooed her out of the room. 

Then Wilkins came to say that Dr. Thornhill had 
finished his examination and would like to see them. 

He came in with a somewhat dissatisfied air, sat 
down heavily in the chair the inspector pushed for- 
ward for him, and said in a dissatisfied tone: 

“ The blade pierced the left ventricle, about the 
middle, a good inch and a half. Death was prac- 
tically instantaneous, of course.” 

“ I took it that it must have been. The collapse 
had been so complete. I suppose the blade stopped 
the heart dead,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Absolutely dead,” said the doctor. “ But the 
thing is that I can’t swear to it that the wound was 
not self-inflicted. Knowing Lord Loudwater, I 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 97 

could swear to it morally. There isn’t the ghost of 
a chance that he took his own life. But physically, 
his right hand might have driven that blade into 
his heart.” 

“ I thought so myself, though of course I’m no ex- 
pert,” said Mr. Flexen. “ And I agree with you 
when you say that you are morally certain that 
the wound was not self-inflicted. Those bad-tem- 
pered brutes may murder other people, but them- 
selves never.” 

“ Well, I’ve not your experience in crime, but I 
should say that you were right,” said the doctor. 

“ All the same, the fact that you cannot swear 
that the wound was not self-inflicted will be of great 
help to the murderer, unless we get an absolute case 
against him,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Well, I’m sure I hope you will. Lord Loud- 
water had a bad temper — an infernal temper, in 
fact. But that’s no excuse for murdering him,” said 
Dr. Thornhill. 

“ None whatever,” said Mr. Flexen. “ What 
about the inquest? I suppose we’d better have it 
as soon as possible.” 

“ Yes. Tomorrow morning, if you can,” said the 
doctor, rising. 

“ Very good. Send word to the coroner at once, 
Perkins. Don’t go yourself. I shall want you 
here,” said Mr. Flexen. 

He shook hands with the doctor and bade him 


98 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

good-day. As Inspector Perkins went out of the 
room to send w^ord to the coroner, he bade him send 
Elizabeth Twitcher to him. 

She was not long coming, for, in obedience to 
Olivia’s injunction, she was engaged in learning what 
the other servants knew, or thought they knew, about 
the murder. 

When she came into the dining-room, Mr. Flexen’s 
keen eyes examined her with greater care than he 
had given to the other servants. On Jane Pitta- 
way’s showing, she should prove an important wit- 
ness. Now Elizabeth Twitcher was an uncommonly 
pretty girl, dark-eyed and dark -haired, and her fore- 
head and chin and the way her eyes were set in her 
head showed considerable character. Mr. Elexen 
made up his mind on the instant that he was going 
to learn from Elizabeth Twitcher exactly what Eliza- 
beth Twitcher thought fit to tell him and no more, for 
all that he perceived that she was badly scared. 

He did not beat about the bush; he said: “ You 
had a conversation with James Hutchings last night, 
about eleven o’clock, in the blue drawing-room. Did 
you let him in? ” 

Elizabeth Twitcher’s cheeks lost some more of 
their colour while he was speaking, and her eyes grew 
more scared. She hesitated for a moment ; then she 
said : 

“ Yes. I let him in at the side door.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 99 

He had not missed her hesitation ; he was sure that 
she was not telling the truth. 

“ How did you know he was at the side door? ” 
he said. 

She hesitated again. Then she said : “ He 

whistled to me under my window just as I was going 
to bed.” 

Again he did not believe her. 

“ Did you let him out of the Castle? ” he said. 

“ No, I didn’t. He let himself out,” she said 
quickly. 

“ Out of the side door? ” 

“ How else w r ould he go out? ” she snapped. 

“ You don’t know that he went out by the side 
door? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

Elizabeth hesitated again. Then she said sul- 
lenly: “ No, I don’t. I left him in the blue draw- 
ing-room.” 

“ In a very bad temper? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I don’t know what kind of a temper he was in,” 
she said. 

Mr. Flexen paused, looking at her thoughtfully. 
Then he said : “ I’m told that you and he were en- 

gaged to be married, and that he broke the engage- 
ment off.” 

“ I broke it off ! ” said Elizabeth angrily, and 
she drew herself up very stiff and frowning. 

It was Mr. Flexen’s turn to hesitate. Then he 


100 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

made a shot, and said : “ I see. He wanted you to 

become engaged to him again, and you wouldn’t.” 

Elizabeth looked at him with an air of surprise 
and respect, and said : “ It wasn’t quite like that, 

sir. I didn’t say as I wouldn’t be his fioncy again. 
I said I’d see how he behaved himself.” 

“ Then he wasn’t in a good temper,” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“ He was in a better temper than he’d any right 
to expect to be,” said Elizabeth with some heat. 

“ That’s true,” said Mr. Flexen, smiling at her. 
“ But after the trouble he had had with Lord Loud- 
w r ater he couldn’t be in a very good temper.” 

“ He was too used to his lordship’s tantrums to 
take much notice of them. He was too much that 
way himself,” said Elizabeth quickly. 

“ I see,” said Mr. Flexen. “ What time was it 
when he left you? ” 

“ I can’t rightly say. But it wasn’t half-past 
eleven,” she said. 

He perceived that that was true. At the moment 
there was no more to be learned from her. If she 
could throw any more light on the doings of James 
Hutchings, she was on her guard and would not. 
But he had learned that James Hutchings had not 
entered the Castle by the side door. Had he entered 
it and left it by the library window? 

He asked Elizabeth a few more unimportant ques- 
tions and dismissed her. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 101 

Inspector Perkins, having sent a groom to inform 
the coroner of the murder, and of the need for an 
early inquest into it, came back to him. They dis- 
cussed the matter of James Hutchings, and decided 
to have him watched and arrest him on suspicion 
should he try to leave the neighbourhood. The in- 
spector telephoned to Low Wycombe for two of his 
detectives. 

Mr. Flexen questioned the rest of the servants and 
learned nothing new from them. By the time he had 
finished the two detectives from Low Wycombe ar- 
rived, and he sent them out to make inquiries in the 
village, though he thought it unlikely that anything 
was to be learnt there, unless Hutchings had been 
talking again. 

He had risen and was about to go to the smoking- 
room to look round it again, on the chance that some- 
thing had escaped his eye, when Mrs. Carruthers, 
the housekeeper, entered the room. None of the 
servants had mentioned her to him, and it had not oc- 
curred to him that there would of course be a house- 
keeper. 

“ Good morning, Mr. Flexen. I’m Mrs. Carruth- 
ers, the housekeeper,” she said. <fi You didn’t send 
for me. But I thought I ought to see you, for I 
know something which may be important, and I 
thought you ought to know it, too.” 

“ Of course. I can’t know too much about an 
affair like this,” said Mr. Flexen quickly. 


102 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ Well, there was a woman, or rather I should say 
a lady, with his lordship in the smoking-room last 
night — about eleven o’clock.” 

“Indeed?” said Mr. Flexen. “Won’t you sit 
down? A lady you say? ” 

“ Yes ; she was a lady, though she seemed very 
angry and excited, and was talking in a very high 
voice. I didn’t recognize it, so I can’t tell you who 
it was. You see, I don’t belong to the neighbour- 
hood. I’ve only been here six weeks.” 

“ And how long did this interview last? ” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“ I can’t tell you. It was no business of mine. 
I was making my round last thing to see that the 
servants had left nothing about. I always do. You 
know how careless they are. I went round the hall, 
and then I went to bed. But, of course, I wondered 
about it,” said Mrs. Carruthers. 

Mr. Flexen looked at her refined, rather delicate 
face, and he did not wonder how she had repressed 
her natural curiosity. 

“ Can you tell me whether the French window in 
the library, the end one, was open at that time? ” 
he said. 

“ I can’t,” she said in a tone of regret. “ I 
couldn’t very well open the library door. If the 
door between the library and the smoking-room was 
open, I should have been certain to hear something 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 103 

that was not meant for my ears. And it generally 
is open in summer time. But I should think it very 
likely that the lady came in by that window. It’s 
always open in summer time. In fact, his lordship 
always went out into the garden through it, going 
from his smoking-room.” 

“And what time was it that you heard this?” 
he said. 

“ A few minutes past eleven. I looked round the 
drawing-room and the two dining-rooms, and it was 
a quarter-past eleven when I came into my room.” 

“ That’s the first exact time I’ve got from any one 
yet,” said Mr. Flexen in a tone of satisfaction. 
“ And that’s all you heard? ” 

She hesitated, and a look of distress came over 
her face. Then she said: “You have questioned 
Elizabeth Twitcher. Did she tell you anything 
about his lordship’s last quarrel with her ladyship? ” 

“ She did not,” said Mr. Flexen. “ Mr. Manley 
told me that she had told him about the quarrel. 
But I did not question her about it. I left it till 
later.” 

Mrs. Carruthers hesitated ; then she said : “ It’s 

so difficult to see what one’s duty is in a case like 
this.” 

“Well, one’s obvious duty is to make no secret 
of anything that may throw a light on the crime. 
Was it anything out of the way in the way of quar- 


104 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

rels? Wasn’t Lord Loudwater always quarrelling 
with Lady Loudwater? I’ve been told that he was 
always insulting and bullying her.” 

“ Well, this one was rather out of the common,” 
said Mrs. Carruthers reluctantly. “ He accused her 
of having kissed Colonel Grey in the East wood and 
declared that he would divorce her.” 

“ It was Colonel Grey, was it? ” said Mr. Elexen. 

“ That is what Elizabeth Twitcher told me after 
supper last night. It seems that his lordship burst 
in upon them when she was dressing her ladyship’s 
hair for dinner and blurted it out before her. I’ve 
no doubt she was telling the truth. Twitcher is a 
truthful girl.” 

“ Moderately truthful,” said Mr. Flexen in a some- 
what ironical tone. 

“ Of course she may have exaggerated. Servants 
do,” said Mrs. Carruthers. 

“And how did Lady Loudwater take it?” said 
Mr. Flexen. 

“ Twitcher said that she denied everything, and 
did not appear at all upset about it. Of course, 
she was used to Lord Loudwater’s making scenes. 
He had a most dreadful temper.” 

“ M’m,” said Mr. Flexen, and he played a tune 
on the table with his finger-tips, frowning thought- 
fully. “Was Colonel Grey — I suppose it is 
Colonel Antony Grey — the V. C. who has been stay- 
ing down here? ” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 105 

“ Yes,” said Mrs. Carruthers. “ He’s at the 
* Cart and Horses ’ at Bellingham.” 

“Was he on good terms with Lord Loudwater? ” 

“ They were quite friendly up to about a fortnight 
ago. The Colonel used to play billiards with his 
lordship and stay on to dinner two or three times a 
week. Then they had a quarrel — about the way 
his lordship treated her ladyship. Holloway, the 
footman, heard it, and the Colonel told his lordship 
that he was a cad and a blackguard, and he hasn’t 
been here since.” 

“ But he met Lady Loudwater in the wood? ” 

“ So his lordship declared,” said Mrs. Carruthers 
in a non-committal tone. 

“ Do you know how Lord Loudwater came to hear 
of their meeting? ” 

“ Twitcher said that he must have had it from 
one of the under-gamekeepers, a young fellow called 
William Roper. Roper asked to see his lordship 
that evening and was very mysterious about his er- 
rand, so that it looks as if she might be right. None 
of the servants ever went near his lordship, if they 
could help it. It had to be something very im- 
portant to induce William Roper to go to him of his 
own accord.” 

“ I see,” said Mr. Flexen thoughtfully. “ Well, 
I’m glad you told me about this. Do you suppose 
that this Twitcher girl has talked to any one but you 
about it? ” 


106 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

6( That I can’t saj at all. But she has a bedroom 
to herself,” said Mrs. Carruthers. “ Besides, if she 
had talked to any of the others, they would have told 
you about it.” 

“ Yes; there is that. I think it would be a good 
thing if you were to give her a hint to keep it to 
herself. It may have no bearing whatever on the 
crime. It’s not probable that it has. But it’s the 
kind of thing to set people talking and do both Lady 
Loudwater and Colonel Grey a lot of harm.” 

“ I will give her a hint at once,” said Mrs. Car- 
ruthers, rising. “ But the unfortunate thing is that 
if Twitcher doesn’t talk, this young fellow Roper 
will. And, really, Lord Loudwater gave her lady- 
ship quite enough trouble and unhappiness when he 
was alive without giving her more now that he’s 
dead.” 

“ I may be able to induce William Roper to hold 
his tongue,” said Mr. Flexen dryly. “ Certainly his 
talking cannot do any good in any case. And I have 
gathered that Lady Loudwater has suffered quite 
enough already from her husband.” 

“ I’m sure she has ; and I do hope you will be able 
to keep that young man quiet,” said Mrs. Carruth- 
ers, moving towards the door. As she opened it, 
she paused and said : 66 Will you be here to lunch, 

Mr. Flexen? ” 

“ To lunch and probably all the afternoon.” He 
hesitated and added : “ It would be rather an ad- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 107 

vantage if I could sleep here, too. I do not think 
that I shall need to look much further than the Cas- 
tle for the solution of this problem, though there’s 
no telling. At any rate, I should like to have ex- 
hausted all the possibilities of the Castle before I 
leave it. And if I’m on the spot, I shall probably 
exhaust them much more quickly.” 

“ Oh, that can easily be arranged. I’ll see her 
ladyship about it at once,” said Mrs. Carruthers 
quickly. 

“ And would you ask her if she feels equal to see- 
ing me yet? ” 

“ Certainly, Mr. Flexen ; and if she does, I’ll let 
you know at once,” she said and went through the 
door. 

Mr. Flexen was considering the new facts she had 
given him, when about three minutes later Inspector 
Perkins returned; and Mr. Flexen bade him find Will- 
iam Roper and bring him to him without delay. The 
inspector departed briskly. He was not used to 
having the inquiry into a crime conducted by the 
Chief Constable himself ; but Mr. Flexen had im- 
pressed the conviction on him that it was work which 
he thoroughly understood. Moreover, he had been 
appointed acting Chief Constable of the district dur- 
ing the absence of Major Arbuthnot, on the ground 
of his many years’ experience in the Indian Police. 
Also, the inspector realized that this was, indeed, an 
exceptional case worthy of the personal effort of 


108 THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 

any Chief Constable. He could not remember a 
case of the murder of a peer ; they had always seemed 
to him a class immune from anything more serious 
than ordinary assault. He was pleased that Mr. 
Flexen was conducting the inquiry himself, for he 
did not wish Scotland Yard to deal with it. Not 
only would that cast a slur on the capacity of the 
police of the district, but he was sure that he him- 
self would get much more credit for his work, if he 
and Mr. Flexen were successful in discovering the 
murderer, than he would get if a detective inspector 
from Scotland Yard were in charge of the case. 
Such a detective inspector might or might not earn 
all the credit, but he would certainly know how to 
get it and probably insist on having it. 

He had not been gone a minute when Elizabeth 
Twitcher came into the dining-room, said that her 
ladyship would be pleased to see Mr. Flexen, and 
led him upstairs to her sitting-room. 

He found Olivia paler than her wont, but quite 
composed. She had lost her nervous air, for she 
had perceived very clearly that it would be dan- 
gerous, indeed, to display the anxiety which was 
harassing her. It was only natural that she should 
appear upset by the shock, but not that she should 
appear in any way fearful. 

Mr. Flexen had been told that Lady Loudwater 
was pretty, but he had not been prepared to find 
her as charming a creature as Olivia. He made up 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 109 

his mind at once to do the best he could to save 
her from the trouble that the gossip about her and 
Colonel Grey would surely bring upon her — if al- 
ways he were satisfied that neither of them had a 
hand in the crime. Looking at Olivia, nothing 
seemed more unlikely than that she should be in any 
way connected with it. But he preserved an open 
mind. As such reasons go, she was not without rea- 
sons, substantial reasons, for getting rid of her hus- 
band, and she appeared to him to be a creature 
of sufficiently delicate sensibilities to feel that hus- 
band’s brutality more than most women. At the 
same time he found it hard to conceive of her using 
that fatal knife herself. Yet the knife is most fre- 
quently the womanly weapon. 

For her part, Olivia liked his face; but she had 
an uneasy feeling that he would go further than most 
men in solving any problem with which he set his 
mind to grapple. 

They greeted one another; he sat down in a chair 
facing the light, though he would have preferred that 
Olivia should have faced it, and expressed his con- 
cern at the trouble which had befallen her. 

Then he said : “ I came to see you, Lady Loud- 

water, in the hope that you might be able to throw 
some light on this deplorable event.” 

“ I don’t think I can,” said Olivia gently. “ But 
of course, if I can do anything to help you find out 
about it I shall be very pleased to try.” 


110 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

She looked at him with steady, candid eyes that 
deepened his feeling that she had had no hand in the 
crime. 

“ And, of course, I’ll make it as little distressing 
for you as I can,” he said. “ Do you know whether 
your husband had anything worrying him — any 
serious trouble of any kind which would make him 
likely to commit suicide? ” 

“ Suicide? Egbert?” cried Olivia, in a tone of 
such astonishment that, as far as Mr. Flexen was 
concerned, the hypothesis of suicide received its 
death-blow. “No. I don’t know of anything which 
would have made him commit suicide.” 

“ Of course he had no money troubles ; but were 
there any domestic troubles which might have un- 
hinged his mind to that extent? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

He wished to be able to deal with the hypothesis 
of suicide, should it be put forward. 

Olivia did not answer immediately. She was 
thinking hard. The possibility that her husband 
had committed suicide, or that any one could sup- 
pose that he had committed suicide, had never en- 
tered her head. She perceived, however, that it was 
a supposition worth encouraging. At the same time, 
she must not seem eager to encourage it. 

“ But they told me that he’d been murdered,” she 
said. 

“ We cannot exclude any possibility from a mat- 
ter like this, and the possibility of suicide must be 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 111 

taken into account,” said Mr. Flexen quickly. 
“ \ ou don’t know of any domestic trouble which 
might have induced Lord Loudwater to make an end 
of himself? ” 

“ No, I don’t know of one,” said Olivia firmly. 
“ But, of course, he was sometimes quite mad.” 

“ Mad? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Yes, quite. I told him so last night — just be- 
fore dinner. He was quite mad. He said that I 
had kissed a friend of ours — at least he was a friend 
of both of us till he quarrelled with my husband some 
weeks ago — in the East wood. He raged about it, 
and declared he was going to start a divorce action. 
But I didn’t take much notice of it. He was always 
falling into dreadful rages. There was one at 
breakfast about my cat and another at lunch about 
the wine. He fancied it was corked.” 

Olivia had perceived clearly that since Elizabeth 
Twitcher had been a witness of her husband’s out- 
burst about Grey, it would be merely foolish not to 
be frank about it. 

“ But the last matter was very much more serious 
than the matter of the cat or the wine,” said Mr. 
Flexen. “ You don’t think that your husband 
brooded on it for the rest of the evening and worked 
himself up into a dangerous frame of mind? ” 

Olivia hesitated. She was quite sure that her hus- 
band had done nothing of the kind, for if he had 
worked himself up into a dangerous frame of mind 


112 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

he would assuredly have made some effort to get at 
her and give some violent expression to it. But she 
said: 

“ That I can’t say. I wish I’d gone down to din- 
ner — now. But I was too much annoyed. I dined 
in my boudoir. I’d had quite enough unpleasantness 
for one day. Perhaps one of the servants could tell 
you. They may have noticed something unusual in 
him — perhaps that he was brooding.” 

“ Wilkins did say that Lord Loudwater seemed 
upset at dinner, and that he was frowning most of 
the meal,” said Mr. Flexen. 

66 That wasn’t unusual,” said Olivia somewhat pa- 
thetically. “ Besides ” 

She stopped short, on the very verge of saying 
that she was sure that those frowns cleared from 
her husband’s face before the sweets, for he would 
never take afternoon tea, in order to have a better 
appetite for dinner, and consequently was wont to 
begin that meal in a tetchy humour. Such an ex- 
planation would have gone no way to support the 
hypothesis of suicide. Instead of making it she 
said: 

“ Of course, he did seem frightfully upset.” 

“ But you don’t think that he was sufficiently up- 
set to do himself an injury? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

Olivia had formed a strong impression that her 
husband would not in any circumstance do himself 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 113 

an injury ; it was his part to injure others. But she 
said: 

u I can’t say. He might have gone on working 
himself up all the evening. I didn’t see him after 
he left my dressing-room. It was there he made the 
row — while I was dressing for dinner.” 

Mr. Flexen paused; then he said: “ Mr. Manley 
tells me that Lord Loudwater used to sleep every 
evening after dinner. Do you think that he was 
too upset to go to sleep last night ? ” 

“ Oh, dear no ! I’ve known him go to sleep in 
his smoking-room after a much worse row than 
that ! ” cried Olivia. 

“ With you? ” said Mr. Flexen quickly. 

“No; with Hutchings — the butler,” said Olivia. 

“ But that wouldn’t be such a serious matter — 
not one to brood upon,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I suppose not,” said Olivia readily. 

Mr. Flexen paused again ; then he said in a some- 
what reluctant tone : “ There’s another matter I 

must go into. Have you any reason to believe that 
there was any other woman in Lord Loudwater’s 
life — anything in the nature of an intrigue? It’s 
not a pleasant question to have to ask, but it’s realty 
important.” 

“ Oh, I don’t expect any pleasantness where Lord 
Loudwater is concerned,” said Olivia, with a sudden 
almost petulant impatience, for this inquisition was 


114 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

a much more severe strain on her than Mr. Flexen 
perceived. “ Do you mean now, or before we were 
married? ” 

“ Now,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I haven’t the slightest idea,” said Olivia. 

“ Do you think it likely ? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ No, I don’t — not very. I don’t see how he 
could have got another woman in. He was always 
about — always. Of course, he rode a good deal, 
though.” 

“ He did, did he? ” said Mr. Flexen quickly. 

“ Every afternoon and most mornings.” 

That was important. Mr. Flexen thought that 
he might not have to go very far afield to find the 
woman who had been quarrelling with Lord Loud- 
water at a few minutes past eleven the night before. 
She probably lived within an easy ride of the Castle. 

“ I’m very much obliged to you for helping me 
so readily in such distressing circumstances,” he 
said in a grateful voice as he rose. “ If anything 
further occurs to you that may throw any light on 
the matter, you might let me hear it with as little 
delay as possible.” 

“ I will,” said Olivia. “ By the way, Mrs. Car- 
ruthers told me that you would like to stay here 
while you were making your inquiry ; please do ; and 
please make any use of the servants and the cars 
you like. My husband’s heir is still in Mesopotamia, 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 115 

and I expect that I shall have to run the Castle till 
he comes back.” 

“ Thank you. To stay here will be very con- 
venient and useful,” said Mr. Flexen gratefully, and 
left her. 

He came down the stairs thoughtfully. It seemed 
to him quite unlikely that she had had anything to 
do with the crime, or knew anything more about 
it than she had told him. Nevertheless, there was 
this business of Colonel Grey and her murdered hus- 
band’s threat to divorce her. They must be borne 
in mind. 

He would have been surprised, intrigued, and 
somewhat shaken in his conviction that she had been 
in no way connected with the murder, had he heard 
the gasp of intense relief which burst from Olivia’s 
lips when the door closed behind him, and seen her 
huddle up in her chair and begin to cry weakly in 
the reaction from the strain of his inquisition. 


CHAPTER VII 


M R. FLEXEN found Inspector Perkins 
waiting for him in the dining-room with 
the information that James Hutchings 
was at his father’s cottage in the West wood, and 
that he had set one of his detectives to watch him. 
Also, he told him that he had learned that Hutchings 
was generally disliked in the village as well as at the 
Castle, as a violent, bad-tempered man, with a habit 
of fixing quarrels on any one who would quarrel with 
him, and as often as not on mild and inoffensive per- 
sons, quite incapable of bearing themselves in a 
quarrel with any unpleasant effectiveness. 

Mr. Flexen discussed with the inspector the ques- 
tion of taking out a warrant for the arrest of Hutch- 
ings, and they decided that there was no need to take 
the step — at any rate, at the moment ; it was 
enough to have him watched. He would learn doubt- 
less that it was known that he had been in the Castle 
late the night before. If, on learning it, he took 
fright and bolted, it would rather simplify the case. 

Then Mr. Flexen sent again for Elizabeth 
Twitcher and questioned her at length about Lord 
116 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 117 

Loudwater’s onslaught on Lady Loudwater the night 
before and about the condition in which he had 
been at the end of it. Elizabeth was somewhat sulky 
in her manner, for she felt that she was to blame 
for that onslaught having come to Mr. Flexen’s ears. 
She was the more careful to make it plain that how- 
ever violently Lord Loudwater may have been af- 
fected, Olivia had taken the business lightly enough, 
and decided to ignore his injunction to her to leave 
the Cas.tle. Mr. Flexen did not miss the point that 
Lord Loudwater had threatened to hound Colonel 
Grey out of the Army ; but at the moment he did not 
attach importance to it. It was the kind of threat 
that an angry man would be pretty sure to make in 
the circumstances. 

Having dismissed Elizabeth Twitcher, he came to 
lunch with the impression s-trong on him that he 
had made as much progress as could be expected in 
one morning towards the solution of the problem. 
He was quite undecided whether Hutchings’ presence 
in the Castle at so late an hour, and the probability 
that he had entered and left it by the library window, 
or the matter of the woman who had had the stormy 
interview with the murdered man, was the more im- 
portant. It must be his early task to discover who 
that woman was. 

He found Mr. Manley awaiting him in the little 
dining-room, ready to play host. Over their soup 
and fish they talked about ordinary topics and a 


118 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

little about themselves. Mr. Manley learned that 
Mr. Flexen had been in the Indian Police for over 
seven years, and had been forced to resign his post 
by the breaking down of his health ; that during the 
war he had twice acted as Chief Constable and three 
times as stipendiary magistrate in different districts. 
Mr. Flexen gathered that Mr. Manley had fought 
in France with a brilliant intrepidity which had not 
met with the public recognition it deserved, and 
learned that he had been invalided out of the Army 
owing to the weakness of his heart. This common 
failure of health was a bond of sympathy between 
them, and made them well disposed to one another. 

There came a pause in this personal talk, and 
either of them addressed himself to the consump- 
tion of the wing of a chicken with a certain absorp- 
tion in the occupation. It was not uncharacteristic 
of Mr. Manley that his high sense of the fitness of 
things had not prevailed on him to accord the liver 
wing to the guest. He was firmly eating it himself. 

Then Mr. Flexen said : “ I suppose you came 

across Hutchings, the butler, pretty often. What 
kind of a fellow was he? ” 

44 He was rather more like his master than if he 
had been his twin brother, except that he wore whis- 
kers and not a beard,” said Mr. Manley, in a tone 
of hearty dislike. 

44 He does not appear to have been at all popular 
with the other servants,” said Mr. Flexen. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 119 

“ He certainly wasn’t popular with me,” said 
Mr. Manley dryly. 

“ What did Lord Loudwater discharge him for? ” 

“ A matter of a commission on the purchase of 
some wine,” said Mr. Manley. Then in a more earn- 
est tone he added : 66 Look here : the trenches knock 

a good deal of the nonsense out of one, and I tell 
you frankly that if I could help you in any way to 
discover the criminal, I wouldn’t. My feeling is that 
if ever any one wanted putting out of the way, Lord 
Loudwater did; and as he was put out of the way 
quite painlessly, probably it was a valuble action, 
whatever its motive.” 

“ I expect that a good many people have come 
back from the trenches with very different ideas 
about justice,” said Mr. Flexen in an indulgent tone. 
“ The Indian Police also changes your ideas about 
it. But it’s my duty to see that justice is done, 
and I shall. Besides, I’m very keen on solving this 
problem, if I can. It seems that Hutchings was in 
the Castle last night about eleven o’clock, and as you 
said something about coming down for a drink about 
that time, I thought you might possibly know some- 
thing about his movements.” 

“ Well, as it happens,” said Mr. Manley and 
stopped short, paused, and went on: “You seem 
to have made up your mind that it was a murder 
and not a suicide.” 

“ So you do know something about the movements 


120 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

of Hutchings,” said Mr. Flexen, smiling. “ You’ll 
be subpoenaed, you know, if he is charged with the 
murder.” 

“ That would, of course, be quite a different mat- 
ter,” said Mr. Manley gravely. 

“ As to its being a murder, I’ve pretty well made 
up my mind that it was,” said Mr. Flexen. 

Mr. Manley looked at him gravely: “You have, 
have you?” he said. Then he added: “About 
that knife and the finger-prints on it, if it happens 
to have recorded any: I’ve been thinking that you 
may find yourself suffering from an embarrassment 
of riches. I know that mine will be on it, and Lady 
Loudwater’s, who used it to cut the leaves of a 
volume of poetry the day before yesterday, and 
Hutchings’, who cut the string of a parcel of books 
with it yesterday, and very likely the fingerprints of 
Lord Loudwater. You know how it is with a knife 
like that, which lies open and handy. Every one 
uses it. I’ve seen Lady Loudwater use it to cut 
flowers, and Lord Loudwater to cut the end off a 
cigar — cursing, of course, because he couldn’t lay 
his hands on a cigar-cutter, and the knife was blunt 
— and I’ve cut all kinds of things with it myself.” 

“Yes; but the finger-prints of the murderer, if it 
does record them, will be on the top of all those oth- 
ers. I shall simply take prints from all of you and 
eliminate them.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 121 

“ Of course ; you can get at it that way,” said 
Mr. Manley. 

They were silent while Holloway set the cheese- 
straws on the table. 

When he had left the room Mr. Flexen said in a 
casual tone: “You don’t happen to know whether 
Lord Loudwater was mixed up with any woman in 
the neighbourhood? ” 

Mr. Manley paused, then laughed and said : 
“ It’s no use at all. When I told you that I would 
throw no light on the matter, if I could help it, I 
really meant it. At the same time, I don’t mind 
saying that, with his reputation for brutality, I 
should think it very unlikely.” 

“ You can never tell about women. So many of 
them seem to prefer brutes. And, after all, a peer 
is a peer,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ There is that,” said Mr. Manley in thoughtful 
agreement. 

But he was frowning faintly as he cudgelled his 
brains in the effort to think what had set Mr. Flexen 
on the track of Helena Truslove, for it must be 
Helena. 

“ I expect I shall be able to find out from his 
lawyers,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ This promises to be interesting — the interven- 
tion of Romance,” said Mr. Manley in a tone of 
livelier interest. “ I took it that the murder, if it 


122 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

was a murder, would be a sordid business, in keeping 
with Lord Loudwater himself. But if you’re going 
to introduce a lady into the case, it promises to be 
more fruitful in interest for the dramatist. I’m 
writing plays.” 

But Mr. Flexen was not going to divulge the 
curious fact that about the time of his murder Lord 
Loudwater had had a violent quarrel with a lady. 
He had no doubt that Mrs. Carruthers would keep 
it to herself. 

“ Oh, one has to look out for every possible factor 
in a problem like this, you know,” he said carelessly. 

The faint frown lingered on Mr. Manley’s brow. 
Mr. Flexen supposed that it was the result of his 
refraining from gratifying his appetite for the dra- 
matic. They were silent a while. 

“ When are you going to take our finger-prints ? ” 
said Mr. Manley presently. 

“ Not till I’ve learned whether there are any on 
the handle of the knife,” said Mr. Flexen. “ Perkins 
has already sent it off to Scotland Yard.” 

“ I never thought of that. It would be rather 
a waste of time to take them before knowing that,” 
said Mr. Manley. 

Holloway brought the coffee; Mr. Manley gave 
Mr. Flexen an excellent cigar, and they talked about 
the war. Mr. Flexen drank his coffee quickly, said 
that he must get back to his work, and added that 
he hoped that he would enjoy the company of Mr. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 123 

Manley at dinner. Mr. Manley had been going to 
dine with Helena Truslove; but after Mr. Flexen’s 
question whether Lord Loudwater had been en- 
tangled with any woman in the neighbourhood, he 
thought that he had better dine with him. He might 
learn something useful, if he could induce Mr. Flexen 
to expand under the relaxing influence of dinner. 
He resolved to use his authority to have the most 
engaging wine the cellar held. He was determined 
to make every endeavour to keep Helena’s name out 
of the affair, and he thought that he would succeed. 

Mr. Flexen left him. He finished his coffee, the 
second cup, slowly, wondering about Mr. Flexen’s 
question about Lord Loudwater and a woman. 
Then, since he had done all the work he could think 
of, in the way of making arrangements for the fu- 
neral, during the morning, he set out briskly to 
Helena’s house, hoping that she would be able to 
throw some light on it. 

He greeted her with his usual warmth, and then, 
when he came to look at her at his leisure, it was plain 
to him that the murder had been a much greater 
shock to her than he had expected. He was sur- 
prised at it, for she had assured him that she had 
never been really in love with Lord Loudwater, and 
he had believed her. But there was no doubt that 
she had been greatly upset by the news of his death. 
Her high colouring was dimmed ; she wore a harassed 
air, and she was uncommonly nervous and ill at ease. 


124 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

He thought it strange that she should be so deeply 
affected by the death of a man she had such good 
reason to detest. But, of course, there was no tell- 
ing how a woman would take anything; Lady Loud- 
water’s distress had fallen as far short of what he 
had expected as Helena’s had exceeded it. 

To Mr. Manley’s credit it must be admitted that 
in less than twenty minutes Helena Truslove was 
looking another creature; her face had recovered all 
its colour; the harassed air had vanished from it, 
and she was sitting on his knee in a condition of the 
most pleasant repose. It was his theory that a 
woman was never too ill, or too ill at ease, or too 
unhappy to be made love to. He had acted on it. 

When he had thus restored her peace of mind, he 
told her that Mr. Flexen had asked him whether the 
late Lord Loudwater had been mixed up with any 
lady in the neighbourhood, and asked her if she 
could suggest any reason for his having asked the 
question. She appeared greatly startled to hear of 
it. But she could not suggest any reason for his 
having asked the question. He then asked her about 
the manner in which the allowance had been paid to 
her, and was pleased to learn that there was little 
likelihood of Mr. Flexen’s learning that she had re- 
ceived such an allowance from Lord Loudwater, for 
it had been paid her through a young lawyer of the 
name of Shepherd, at Low Wycombe, the lawyer who 
had dealt with the matter of the transference of the 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 125 

house they were in to her, from the rents of some 
houses Lord Loudwater owned in that town, and 
that lawyer was somewhere in Mesopotamia, his 
practice in abeyance. 

She was in entire accord with Mr. Manley about 
the advantage of her name not being connected in 
any way with the tragedy at the Castle. She 
pointed out that it was also an advantage that she 
had just been paid her allowance for the present 
quarter, and there would not be another payment for 
three months. By that time it was probable that 
the murder would have passed out of people’s minds 
and Mr. Flexen be busy with other work. It seemed 
to Mr. Manley that Mr. Flexen would not easily 
learn about the allowance unless Mr. Carrington also 
knew it, which seemed unlikely, though it was always 
possible that there was some record of it among the 
Lord Loudwater’s papers at the Castle. Soon after 
seven he left her to walk back to dine with Mr. 
Flexen. 

Mr. Flexen had had a considerable surprise that 
afternoon. He had told Robert Black to find Will- 
iam Roper and bring him to him. He wished to hear 
the story he had told Lord Loudwater the evening 
before, for it might be of a triviality to make the 
hypothesis that Lord Loudwater had committed 
suicide yet less worthy of serious consideration. 
Black was a long while finding William Roper, for 
he was at work in the woods. Indeed, he had not yet 


126 THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 

heard that Lord Loudwater had been murdered, for 
he had been up most of the night, risen late, got his 
own breakfast in his out-of-the-way cottage in the 
depths of the West wood, and gone out on his rounds. 
The constable found him at the cottage, in the act 
of preparing his dinner, or rather his tea and dinner, 
at a quarter to four. 

William Roper was startled, indeed, to hear of 
the murder, and then bitterly annoyed. All the 
while on his rounds he had been congratulating him- 
self on his coming promotion, and reckoning up the 
many advantages which would accrue from it, not 
the least of which was a wider prospect of finding a 
wife. The cup was dashed from his lips. He had 
acquired no merit in the eyes of the new Lord Loud- 
water, and he had most probably made the present 
Lady Loudwater his enemy, if the murdered man had 
divulged the source of his knowledge of her goings-on 
with Colonel Grey. He ate his mixed meal very 
sulkily, listening to the constable’s account of the 
circumstances of the crime. Slowly, however, his 
face grew brighter as he listened; the new informa- 
tion he had obtained for his murdered employer 
might very well have an important bearing on the 
crime itself. He might yet establish himself as the 
benefactor of the family. 

On the way to the Castle he was so mysterious with 
Robert Black that the stout constable became a prey 
to mingled curiosity and doubt. He could not make 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 127 

up his mind whether William Roper really knew 
something of importance or was merely vapouring. 
William Roper neither gratified his curiosity, nor 
banished his doubt. He was alive to the advantage 
of reserving his information for the most important 
ear, so as to gain the greatest possible credit for 
it. 

At the first sight of him Mr. Flexen felt that he 
had before him an important witness, for he took 
a violent dislike to him, and he had observed, in the 
course of his many years’ experience in the detec- 
tion of crime, that the most important witness in 
hounding down a criminal was very often of a re- 
pulsive type, the nark type. William Roper was of 
that type, but his story was indeed startling. 

He first told how he had seen Colonel Grey kiss 
Lady Loudwater in the afternoon — Mr. Flexen 
noted that Lord Loudwater had accused her of kiss- 
ing Grey — and of their spending most of the after- 
noon in the pavilion in the East wood. The time of 
his watching had already lengthened in William Rop- 
er’s memory. There was nothing new in these facts, 
and Mr. Flexen saw no reason to suppose that they 
had any bearing on the crime. But William Roper 
went on to say that soon after ten in the evening 
he had been on his round in the East wood, when he 
saw Colonel Grey walking in the direction of the 
Castle. His curiosity had been aroused by what he 
had seen in the afternoon, and thinking it not un- 


128 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

likely that he was on his way to another meeting 
with the Lady Loudwater, and that it was the duty 
of a faithful retainer to make sure about it, with a 
view to informing his master should his surmise prove 
correct, he followed him. 

The Colonel went straight through the wood into 
the Castle garden, walked round the Castle, keeping 
in its shadow as he went, till he stood under the 
window of Lady Loudwater’s suite of rooms. 

There he apeared to suffer a check. There was a 
light in the room on the ground floor under her 
boudoir. The Colonel had waited quite a while ; then 
he had walked round the Castle and into it by the 
library window. 

William, greatly surprised by the Colonel’s au- 
dacity, had taken up his position in a clump of tall 
rhododendrons, opposite the library window, from 
which he could keep watch on it. 

“ What time would this be? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes 
past ten, sir,” said William Roper. 

“And what happened then? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Nothing ’appened for a good ten minutes. 
Then James Hutchings, the butler, come across the 
gardens from the south gate, as if ’e’d come from 
the village, and ’e went in through the libery winder 
— the same winder.” 

Mr. Flexen had thought it not unlikely that 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 129 

Hutchings had entered the Castle by that entrance. 
He was pleased to have his guess corroborated. 

“ That would be about half-past ten,” he said. 
“ Could you see into the library at all? ” 

“ Only a very little way, sir.” 

“ You couldn’t see whether Colonel Grey and then 
James Hutchings went straight through it into the 
hall, or whether either of them went into the smoking- 
room? ” 

“No; I couldn’t see so far in as that, though 
there was a light burning in the libery,” said William 
Roper. 

That was a new fact. Any one passing through 
the library would be able to see the open knife lying 
in the big inkstand. 

“ Go on,” said Mr. Flexen. “ What happened 
next? ” 

“Nothing ’appened for a long while — twenty 
minutes, I should think — and then there come a 
woman round the right-’and corner of the Castle 
wall and along it and into the libery winder. At 
first I thought it was Mrs. Carruthers, or one of 
the maids — she were too tall for her ladyship — 
but it warn’t.” 

“Are you quite sure?” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Quite, sir. I should have known ’er if she had 
been. Besides, she was all muffled up like. You 
couldn’t see ’er face.” 


130 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ Did she hesitate before going through the library 
window? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Not as I noticed. She seemed to go straight 
in.” 

“ As if she were used to going into the Castle that 
way? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

William Roper scratched his head. Then he said 
cautiously : “ She seemed to know that way in all 

right, sir.” 

“ And how was she dressed? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ She wasn’t in black. It wasn’t as dull as black, 
but it was dullish. It might have been grey and 
again it might not. It might have been blue or 
brown. You see, there was a fair moon, sir, but it 
was be’ind the Castle, an’ I never seed ’er in the full 
moonlight, as you may say, seeing as, coming and 
going, she come along the wall and went round the 
right-’and corner of it, in the shadder.” 

“ And which of these three people came away 
first? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ She did. She wasn’t in the Castle more nor 
twenty minutes — if that.” 

“ Did she seem to be in a hurry when she came 
out? Did she run, or walk quickly? ” 

“No. I can’t say as she did. She went away 
just about as she came — in no purtic’ler ’urry,” 
said William Roper. 

Mr. Flexen paused, considering; then he said: 
“ And who was the next to leave? ” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 131 

“ The Colonel, ’e come out next — in about ten 
minutes.” 

“ Did he seem in a hurry? ” 

“ ’E walked pretty brisk, and ’e was frowning, 
like as if ’e was in a rage. ’E passed me close, so 
I ’ad a good look at ’im. Yes; I should say ’e was 
fair boilen’, ’e was,” said William Roper, in a solemn, 
pleased tone of one giving damning evidence. 

Mr. Flexen did not press the matter. He said: 
“ So James Hutchings came away last?” 

“ Yes ; about five minutes after the Colonel. And 
’e was in a pretty fair to-do, too. Leastways, he 
was frowning and a-muttering of to ’imself. He 
passed me close.” 

“ Did he seem in any hurry ? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ ’E was walkin’ fairly fast,” said William Roper. 

Mr. Flexen paused again, pondering. He 
thought that William Roper had thrown all the light 
on the matter he could ; and he had certainly revealed 
a number of facts which looked uncommonly im- 
portant. 

“ And that was all you saw? ” he said. 

“ That was all — except ’er ladyship,” said Will- 
iam Roper. 

“ Her ladyship? ” said Mr. Flexen sharply. 

“ Yes. You see, there was no ’urry for me to 
go back to the woods, sir; an’ I sat down on one 
of them garden seats along the edge of the Wellin’- 
tonia shrubbery to smoke a pipe and think it out 


132 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

I felt it was my dooty like to let ’is lordship know 
about these goings-on, never thinking as ’ow ’e was 
sitting there all the time with a knife in ’im. I 
should think it was twenty minutes arter that I saw 
’er ladyship come out. Of course, I was farther 
away from the window, but I saw ’er quite plain.” 

“ And where did she go ? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ She didn’t go nowhere, so to speak. She just 
walked up an’ down the gravel path — like as if 
she’d come out for a breath of fresh air. Then she 
went in. She wasn’t out more nor ten minutes, or 
a quarter of an hour.” 

Mr. Flexen was silent in frowning thought; then 
he looked earnestly at William Roper for a good 
minute; then he said: “Well, this may be import- 
ant, or it may not. But it is very important that 
you should keep it to yourself.” He looked hard 
again at William, decided that an appeal to his van- 
ity would be best, and added: * You’re pretty 
shrewd, I fancy, and you can see that it is most im- 
portant not to put the criminal on his guard — if it 
was a crime.” 

“ I suppose I shall ’ave to tell what I know at 
the inquest?” said William Roper, with an air of 
importance. 

Mr. Flexen gazed at him thoughtfully, weighing 
the matter. Here were a number of facts which 
might or might not have an important bearing on 
the murder, but which would give rise to a great 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 133 

deal of painful and harmful scandal if they were 
given to the world at this juncture. 

Besides the publication of them might force his 
hand, and he preferred to have a free hand in this 
matter as he had been used to have a free hand in 
India. There he had dealt with more than one 
case in such a manner as to secure substantial jus- 
tice rather than the exact execution of the law. It 
might be that in this case justice would be best se- 
cured by leaving the murderer to his, or her, 
conscience rather than by causing several people 
great unhappiness by bringing ' about a conviction. 
He was inclined to think, with Mr. Manley, that the 
murderer might have performed a public service by 
removing Lord Loudwater from the world he had so 
ill adorned. At any rate, he was resolved to have 
a free hand to deal with the case, and most certainly 
he was not going to allow this noxious young fellow 
to hamper his freedom of action and final decision. 

“ Your evidence seems to me of much too great im- 
portance to be given at the inquest. It must be re- 
served for the trial,” he said in an impressive tone. 
“ But if it gets abroad that you have seen what 
you have told me, the criminal will be prepared to 
upset your evidence; and it will probably become 
quite worthless. You must not breathe a word 
about what you saw to a soul till we have your 
evidence supported beyond all possibility of its being 
refuted. Do you understand? ” 


134 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

For a moment William Roper looked disappointed. 
He had looked to become famous that very day. 
But he realized his great importance in the affair* 
and his face cleared. 

“ I understands, sir,” he said with a dark 
solemnity. 

“Not a word,” said Mr. Flexen yet more im- 
pressively. 


CHAPTER VIII 


T HAT morning Olivia went to meet Grey in a 
mood very different from that of the after- 
noon before. Then she had moved on light 
feet, in high spirits, expectant, even excited. She 
had not known what was coming, but the prospect 
had been full of possibilities ; and, thanks to the sud- 
den appearance of the cat Melchisidec at the crucial 
moment, she had not been disappointed. Today she 
would have gone to meet the man who loved her in 
yet higher spirits, for there is no blinking the fact 
that she was wholly unable to grieve for her hus- 
band. He had with such thoroughness extirpated 
the girlish fondness she had felt for him when she 
married him, that she could not without hypocrisy 
make even a show of grieving for him. His death 
had merely removed the barrier between her and the 
man she loved. 

But today she did not go to her tryst in spirits 
higher for the removal of that barrier. She went 
more slowly, on heavier, lingering feet. Her eyes 
were downcast, and her forehead was furrowed by 
an anxious, brooding frown. 

The sight of Colonel Grey, waiting for her at the 
135 


136 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

door of the Pavilion, smoothed the furrows from 
her forehead and quickened her steps. When the 
door closed behind them he caught her in his arms 
and kissed her. It was early in her widowhood to 
be kissed, but she made no protest. She did not 
feel a widow; she felt a free woman again. It is even 
to be feared that her lips were responsive. 

Antony, too, was changed. He was paler and 
almost careworn. There was no doubt of his joy 
at her coming, no doubt that it was greater than 
the day before. But it was qualified by some other 
troubling emotion. Now and again he looked at her 
with different eyes — eyes from which the joy had 
of a sudden faded, rather fearful eyes that looked 
a question which could not be asked. Her eyes 
rather shrank from his, and when they did look into 
them it was with a like question. 

But they were too deeply in love with one another 
for any other emotion to hold them for long at a 
time. Presently in the joy of being together, look- 
ing at one another, touching one another, the fear- 
fulness and the question passed from their eyes. 

There was nothing rustic about the Pavilion in- 
side or out. It was of white marble, brought from 
Carrara for the fifth Baron Loudwater at the end 
of the eighteenth century; and a whim of her mur- 
dered husband had led him to replace the original, 
delicate, rather severe furniture by a most com- 
fortable broad couch, two no less comfortable chairs 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 137 

with arms, a small red lacquer table and a dozen 
cushions. He had hung on each wall a drawing of 
dancing-girls bj Degas. Since the coverings of the 
couch and the cushions were of Chinese silken em- 
broideries, the interior appeared a somewhat bizarre 
mixture of the Oriental and the French. 

Antony had been in some doubt that Olivia would 
come. But he had thought it natural that she 
should come to him in such an hour of distress, for 
he knew the simple directness of her nature. There- 
fore he had taken no chance. He had gone to High 
Wycombe, ransacked its simple provision shops, and 
brought away a lunch basket. 

She was for returning to the Castle to lunch. But 
he persuaded her to stay. She needed no great 
pressing; she had a feeling that every hour was 
precious, that it was unsafe to lose a single one of 
them: a foreboding that she and Antony might not 
be together long. It almost seemed that a like fore- 
boding weighed on him. At times they seemed al- 
most feverish in their desire to wring the last drop 
of sweetness out of the swiftly flying hour. 

After lunch again the thought came to her that 
she ought to go back to the Castle, that she might be 
needed, and missed ; but it found no expression. She 
could not tear herself away. She had been denied 
joy too long, and it was intoxicating. 

It was five o’clock before she left the Pavilion. 
She walked briskly, with her wonted, easy, swing- 


138 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

in g gait, back to the Castle, in a dream, her anxiety 
and fear for the while forgotten. On her way up 
to her suite of rooms she met no one. She was quick 
to take off her hat and ring for her tea. Elizabeth 
Twitcher brought it to her, and from her Olivia 
learned that only Mr. Manley had asked for her. 
She realized that, after all, thanks to her dead hus- 
band, she was but an inconspicuous person in the 
Castle. No one had been used to consult her in 
any matter. She was glad of it. At the moment 
all she desired was freedom of action, freedom to be 
with Antony; and the fact that the life of the Castle 
moved smoothly along in the capable hands of Mrs. 
Carruthers and Mr. Manley gave her that freedom. 

After her tea she went out into the rose-garden 
and was strolling up and down it when Mr. Flexen, 
pondering the information which he had obtained 
from William Roper, saw her and came out to her. 
He thought that she shrank a little at the sight of 
him, but assured himself that it must be fancy; surely 
there could be no reason why she should shrink from 
him. 

“ I’m told, Lady Loudwater, that you went out 
through the library window into the garden for a 
stroll about a quarter to twelve last night. Did 
you by any chance, as you went in or came out, 
hear Lord Loudwater snore? I want to fix the latest 
hour at which he was certainly alive. You see how 
important it may prove.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 139 

She hesitated, wrinkling her brow as she weighed 
the importance of her answer. Then she looked at 
him with limpid eyes and said: 

“ Yes.” 

He knew — the sixth sense of the criminal investi- 
gator told him — that she lied, and he was taken 
aback. Why should she lie? What did she know? 
What had she to hide? 

“ Did you hear him snore going out, or coming 
in? ” he said. 

“ Both,” said Olivia firmly. 

Mr. Flexen hesitated. He did not believe her. 
Then he said : “ How long did Lord Loudwater 

sleep after dinner as a rule? What time did he go 
to bed ? ” 

“ It varied a good deal. Generally he awoke and 
went to bed before twelve. But sometimes it was 
nearer one, especially if he was disturbed and went 
to sleep again.” 

“ Thank you,” said Mr. Flexen, and he left her 
and went back into the Castle. 

Lord Loudwater had certainly been disturbed by 
the woman with whom he had quarrelled. He might 
have slept on late. But why had Lady Loudwater 
lied about the snoring? What did she know? 
What on earth was she hiding? Whom was she 
screening? Could it be Colonel Grey? Was he 
mixed up in the actual murder? Mr. Flexen decided 
that he must have more information about Colonel 


140 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Grey, that he would get into touch with him, and 
that soon. 

He had information about him sooner than he 
expected and without seeking it. Inspector Perkins 
was awaiting him, with Mrs. Turnbull, the landlady 
of the “ Cart and Horses.” The inspector had 
learned from her that the Lord Loudwater had paid 
a visit to her lodger the evening before, and that 
they had quarrelled fiercely. Mr. Flexen heard her 
story and questioned her. The important point in 
it seemed to him to be Lord Loudwater’s threats to 
hound Colonel Grey out of the Army. 

Mrs. Turnbull left him plenty to ponder. Mr. 
Manley had told him that the handle of the famous 
knife would probably provide him with an embar- 
rassment of riches in the way of finger-prints. It 
seemed to him that the stories of William Roper, 
Mrs. Carruthers, and Mrs. Turnbull had provided 
him with an embarrassment of riches in the way of 
possible murderers. It grew clearer than ever to 
him that the inquest must be conducted with the 
greatest discretion, that as few facts as possible 
must be revealed at it. It was also clear to him 
that, unless the handle of the knife told a plain 
story, he would get nothing but circumstantial evi- 
dence, and so far he had gotten too much of it. 

He made up his mind that it would be best to see 
Colonel Grey at once and form his impression as 
to the likelihood of his having had a hand in the 


THE LOUD WAT Ell MYSTERY 141 

crime. He was loth to believe that a V. C. would 
murder in cold blood even as detestable a bully as 
the Lord Loudwater appeared to have been. But 
he had seen stranger things. Moreover, it depended 
on the type of V. C. Colonel Grey was. V. C.s 
varied. 

Mr. Flexen lost no time. It was nearly six 
o’clock. It was likely that the Colonel would be 
back at his inn after his fishing. Mrs. Turnbull 
was sure that he had as usual gone fishing, for, when 
he set out in the morning, he had taken his rod with 
him. Antony Grey was not the man to omit a simple 
precaution like that. Therefore, Mr. Flexen or- 
dered a car to be brought round, and was at the 
44 Cart and Horses ” by twenty past six. 

He found that Colonel Grey had indeed returned. 
He sent up his card ; the maid came back and at once 
took him up to the Colonel’s sitting-room. Grey re- 
ceived him with an air of inquiry, which grew yet 
more inquiring when Mr. Flexen told him that he 
was engaged in investigating the affair of Lord 
Loudwater’s death. Therefore, Mr. Flexen came to 
the point at once. 

66 I have been informed that Lord Loudwater paid 
you a visit last night, and that a violent quarrel 
ensued, Colonel Grey,” he said. 

“ Pardon me ; but the violence was all on Lord 
Loudwater’s part,” said Colonel Grey in an exceed- 
ingly unpleasant tone. 44 I merely made myself 


142 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

nasty in a quiet way. Violence is not in my line, 
unless I’m absolutely driven to it ; and any one less 
likely to drive any ojj£ to violence than that ob- 
noxious and noisy jackass I’ve never come across. 
The fellow was all words — abusive words. He’d no 
fight in him. I gave him every reason I could think 
of to go for me because I particularly wanted to 
hammer him. But he hadn’t got it in him.” 

Grey spoke quietly, without raising his voice, but 
there was a rasp in his tone that impressed Mr. 
Flexen. If a man could give such an impression of 
dangerousness with his voice, what would he be like 
in action? He realized that here was a quite un- 
common type of V. C. He realized, too, that Lord 
Loudwater had made the mistake of a lifetime in his 
attempt to bully him. Moreover, he had a strong 
feeling that if it had seemed to Colonel Grey that 
Lord Loudwater was better out of the way, and a 
favourable opportunity had presented itself, he 
might very well have displayed little hesitation in 
putting him out of the way. He felt that the ob- 
noxious peer would have been little more than a 
dangerous dog to him. 

He did not speak at once. He looked into Colonel 
Grey’s grey eyes, and cold and hard they were, 
weighing him. Then he said : “ Lord Loudwater 

threatened to hound you out of the Army, I’m told.” 

“ Among other things,” said Grey carelessly. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 143 

Mr. Flexen guessed that the other things were 
threats to divorce Lady Loudwater. 

“ That would have been a very serious blow to 
you,” he said. 

“You’re quite — right,” said Colonel Grey. 

Mr. Flexen could have sworn that he had started 
to say: “You’re quite wrong,” and changed his 
mind. 

The Colonel seemed to hesitate for words ; then he 
went on : “ It would have been a very heavy blow 

indeed. You can see that for a man who enlisted in 
the Artists’ Rifles in 1914, and fought his way up to 
the command of a regiment, nothing could be more 
painful. It would have been heartbreaking; I should 
have been years getting over it.” 

The rasp had gone out of his voice. He was 
speaking in a pleasant, confidential tone, and Mr. 
Flexen did not believe a word he said. At the least 
he was exaggerating the distress he would have felt 
at leaving the Army ; but Mr. Flexen had the strong- 
est feeling that he would have felt next to no distress 
at all. Again he was astonished. Colonel Grey was 
lying to him just as Lady Loudwater had lied. 
What could be their reason? What on earth had 
they done? 

He kept his astonishment out of his face, and 
said in a sympathetic voice: “ Yes, I can see that. 
And then, again, it would have been painful and very 


144 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

unpleasant to feel that your thoughtlessness had 
landed Lady Loudwater in the Divorce Court.” 

44 Oh, Lord, no ! ” said Colonel Grey quickly. 
44 There was no chance of any divorce proceedings. 
Even for a divorce case, at any rate one brought 
by the husband, there must be some grounds ; he must 
have some evidence. The cock-and-bull story of a 
gamekeeper is hardly enough to found a divorce case 
on, is it? ” 

44 Oh, I don’t know. The gamekeeper might con- 
vince a jury. You know what juries are. You can 
never tell what form their*stupidity will take,” said 
Mr. Flexen. 

44 But apart from the lack of evidence, there was 
no chance of a divorce case. I tell you, Loudwater 
hadn’t got it in him,” said Grey confidently. 44 He’d 
have threatened and been abusive. He’d have gone 
on throwing that cock-and-bull story at Lady Loud- 
water for as long as she continued to stick to him; 
but it would have stopped at that. His infernal 
temper never went any deeper than his lungs. Lady 
Loudwater had nothing to fear.” 

44 Yet you think that he would have done his best 
to hound you out of the Army? ” said Mr. Flexen, 
finding this conception of Lord Loudwater as a 
harmless, if violent, vapourer somewhat inconsistent. 

44 That’s quite another matter,” said Grey quickly. 
44 It merely meant using his influence behind my back 
with some scurvy politician. There wouldn’t have 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 145 

been any publicity attached to that, any exposure of 
his bullying. He’d have done that all right.” 

“ I should have thought that a man oT Lord Loud- 
water’s violent temper would rather have sought an 
open row,” Mr. Flexen persisted. 

“ Of course — if he’d been really violent. But he 
wasn’t, I tell you. He was only a blustering bully 
where women and servants were concerned — people 
he could cow. I tell you, I made it quite clear that 
he crumpled up directly you stood up to him. Why, 
hang it all ! Any man with the soul of a mouse who 
really believed that I had been making love to his 
wife, couldn’t have taken the things I told him with- 
out going for me at any risk. And as I’m still 
rather crocked up, and he knew it, there must have 
seemed precious little risk about it. I tell you that 
he was just a blustering ruffian.” 

Mr. Flexen had a strong impression that Colonel 
Grey was unused to being as expansive as this, that 
he was talking for talking’s sake, possibly to put 
him off asking some question which would be difficult 
or dangerous to answer. He could not for the life 
of him think what that question could be. 

“ I daresay you’re right,” he said carelessly. 
“ Bullies aren’t over-fond of a real scrap. But I 
am told that you paid a visit to the Castle last night 
and came away about a quarter past eleven. Did 
you ? ” 

Colonel Grey showed no faintest disquiet on hear- 


146 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ing that his visit to Olivia the night before was 
known. But he did not give Mr. Flexen time to 
finish the sentence. 

He interrupted him, saying quickly: “Yes. I 
went to see Lady Loudwater. I thought it likely 
that she would attach a good deal more importance 
to Loudwater’s silly threats than they deserved and 
might be worrying. It would have been quite nat- 
ural. I wanted to talk it over with her and set her 
mind at rest about it. It didn’t take very long to 
do that, partly because it was a long time since he 
had really frightened her. She had got used to his 
tantrums and bullying ; and even this new game 
had not disturbed her very much. We both came to 
the conclusion that he was just blustering again, and 
wouldn’t do anything. As a matter of fact, I don’t 
think she cared very much what he did. She had 
got so fed up with him that she didn’t care whether 
they separated or not.” 

Mr. Flexen felt more sure than ever that this 
garrulity was unusual in Colonel Grey. He was 
talking with a purpose, apparently to induce him 
to believe that both he and Lady Loudwater had 
taken her husband’s threat of divorce proceedings 
lightly. He began to think that they had not taken 
it lightly at all, or, at any rate, one or other of 
them had not. 

“ Yes,” he said. “ That’s what always happens 
with those blustering fellows. In the end no one 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 147 

takes them seriously. But what I came to ask you 
was: Did you, as you came through the library or 
went out through it, hear Lord Loudwater snore? ” 

Colonel Grey hesitated, just as Lady Loudwater 
had hesitated over that question. Plainly he was 
weighing the effect of his answer. 

Then he said: “ No.” 

Mr. Flexen’s instinct assured him that Colonel 
Grey had lied just as Lady Loudwater had lied. 

“ Are you sure that nothing in the nature of a 
snore came to your ears as you came out? Did you 
hear any sound from the room? You can see how 
important it is to fix as near as we possibly can the 
hour of Lord Loudwater’s death,” he said earnestly. 

“ No, I heard nothing,” said Colonel Grey firmly. 

“ Bother ! ” said Mr. Flexen. “ It’s very im- 
portant. Possibly I shall be able to find out from 
some one else.” 

“ I hope you will,” said Grey politely. 

Mr. Flexen bade him good-night cordially enough, 
and drove back to the Castle in a considerable per- 
plexity. Both Colonel Grey and Lady Loudwater 
were behaving in an uncommonly odd, not to say 
suspicious manner. 

He was quite sure that both of them had lied 
about the dead man’s snoring. But it was plain that 
either had lied with a different object. Lady Loud- 
water had lied to make it appear that her husband 
had been alive at midnight. Colonel Grey had lied 


148 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

to make it appear that he was dead at a quarter- 
past eleven. But Mr. Flexen was sure that Colonel 
Grey had heard Lord Loudwater snore and that 
Lady Loudwater had not. 

What did they know? What had they done? Or 
what had one of them done? 


CHAPTER IX 


W HEN Mr. Flexen reached the Castle 
Wilkins took him to a bedroom in the 
west wing. He found that his port- 
manteau had arrived, had been unpacked, and that 
his dress clothes were laid out ready for him on the 
bed. 

As he dressed he cudgelled his brains for the 
reason why Lady Loudwater and Colonel Grey had 
lied. Then an idea came to him : were the} r l}dng to 
shield the unknown woman with whom Lord Loud- 
water had had that violent quarrel? The longer he 
considered this hypothesis the more possible it grew. 

He must find that unknown woman, and at once. 
Possibly Mr. Carrington, as Lord Loudwater’ s legal 
adviser, would be able to put him on her track. 

He came to dinner, still perplexed, to find Mr. 
Manley waiting to bear him company. They talked 
for a while about public affairs and the weather. 

Then Mr. Flexen said: “ Was Lord Loudwater 
the kind of man to confide in his lawyers? ” 

“ Not if he could help it,” said Mr. Manley with 
conviction. 

Mr. Flexen hoped that Lord Loudwater had not 
149 


150 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

been able to help confiding in his lawyers about this 
unknown woman. 

Then he said: “By the way, do you know 
Colonel Grey ? ” 

" Oh, yes. He was here a lot up to a little while 
ago. Then he had a row, the inevitable row, with 
Lord Loudwater, and he hasn’t been here since. He 
dropped on to Lord Loudwater for bullying Lady 
Loudwater, and he didn’t drop on him lightly either. 
Hell, I fancy, was what he gave him.” 

“ Yes ; I gathered that something of the kind had 
taken place. What kind of a man is the Colonel? ” 
said Mr. Flexen carelessly. 

“ The best man in the world not to have a row 
with. He’s a cold terror,” said Mr. Manley, in a 
tone of enthusiastic conviction. “ He always seems 
rather cooler than a cucumber. But my belief is 
that that coolness is just the mask of really violent 
emotions. I saw them working once. I came in on 
the end of his row with Loudwater — just the end 
of it — my goodness ! From my point of view, the 
dramatist’s, you know, he’s the most interesting per- 
son in the county — bar Lady Loudwater, of 
course.” 

“ I should never have thought him a terror,” said 
Mr. Flexen, in a tone of somewhat incredulous sur- 
prise. “ I had a talk with him this evening about 
Lord Loudwater’s death, and he seemed to me to be 
a pleasant enough fellow and an excellent soldier. I 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 151 

take it that he’s very keen on his career in the 
Army? ” 

“Not a bit of it. The war is merely a side issue 
with him,” said Mr. Manley in an assured tone. “ I 
know from what he told me himself. We were talk- 
ing over our experiences.” 

“ But, hang it all ! he’s a V. C. ! ” cried Mr. Flexen. 

“ Yes, he’s a V. C. all right. But that’s because 
he’s one of those men who have the knack of taking 
an interest in everything they turn their hands to, 
and doing it well. But his two passions are Chinese 
art and women,” said Mr. Manley. 

“ Women? ” said Mr. Flexen. “ Fie didn’t strike 
me as being that kind of man at all. He seemed 
a quite simple, straightforward soldier.” 

“ Simplicity and a passion for Chinese art don’t 
go together — at least, not what is usually called 
simplicity,” said Mr. Manley dryly. “ A friend of 
mine, who knows all about him, told me that he had 
had more really serious love affairs than any other 
man in London. Fie seems to be one of those men 
who fall in love hard every time they fall in love. 
He said that it was one of the mysteries of the polite 
world how he had kept out of the Divorce Court.” 

“ Sounds an odd type,” said Mr. Flexen, storing 
up the information, and marking how little it agreed 
with his own observation of Colonel Grey. “ And 
you say that Lady Loudwater is interesting too? ” 

“ Oh, come ! Are you pumping me or merely pull- 


152 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ing my leg?” said Mr. Manley. “Surely you can 
see that Lady Loudwater is pure Italian Renais- 
sance. She is one of those subtle, mysterious crea- 
tures that Leonardo and Luini were always paint- 
ing, compact of emotion.” 

“ It’s so long since I was at Balliol, and then I 
was doing Indian Civil work — the languages, you 
know. I’ve forgotten all I knew about the Renais- 
sance in Italy, and I don’t look at many pictures. 
All the same, I think you’re wrong — your dramatic 
imagination, you know. My own idea is that Lady 
Loudwater, at any rate, is a quite simple creature.” 

“ It isn’t mine,” said Mr. Manley firmly. “ She’s 
a great deal too intelligent to be simple, and she 
comes of far too intelligent a family.” 

“What family?” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ She’s a Quainton, with Italian blood in her 
veins.” 

“ The deuce she is ! ” cried Mr. Flexen, and half 
a dozen stories of the Quaintons rose in his mind. 

He must amend his impressions of Lady Loud- 
water. 

“ And she has a keener sense of humour than any 
woman I ever came across,” said Mr. Manley, driving 
his contention home. 

“Has she?” said Mr. Flexen. 

There was a pause. Then Mr. Manley said in a 
musing tone : “ Do you suppose that Colonel Grey 

finds her simple ? ” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 153 

“ What? Y ou don’t think that there is really 
anything serious between them? ” said Mr. Flexen 
quickly. 

“ No, not really serious — at any rate, on Colonel 
Grey’s part. You can hardly expect a man, recov- 
ering very slowly from three bad wounds and still 
crocked up, to fall in love, can you? Especially a 
man who, when he does fall in love, falls in love with 
the violence with which Grey is charged,” said Mr. 
Manley. 

“ There is that,” said Mr. Flexen. 44 But that 
wouldn’t prevent Lady Loudwater from falling in 
love with Colonel Grey. And after the way her hus- 
band treated her, she must have needed something in 
the way of affection — badly.” 

46 It’s no good a woman falling in love with a man 
unless he falls in love with her,” said Mr. Manley, 
in the tone of a philosopher. 44 Besides, women don’t 
fall in love with men who are so feeble from illness 
as the Colonel seems to be. How can there be the 
attraction? She might, of course, want to mother 
him very keenly. But that’s quite a different thing.” 
He paused, then added in a tone of some anxiety: 
44 1 say, you’re not trying to mix her up with the 
murder — if it was a murder? ” 

44 I’m not trying to mix anybody up in it,” said 
Mr. Flexen slowly. 44 But I don’t mind telling you 
that it is growing quite a pretty problem, and to 
solve a problem you must have every factor in it. 


154 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

You see that the strong point about both Lady 
Loudwater and Colonel Grey is, on your own show- 
ing, that they are uncommonly clever; and only 
stupid people commit murder — except, of course, 
once in a blue moon.” 

44 But what about these gangs of criminals we 
sometimes read about, with extraordinarily clever 
men at the head of them? Don’t they exist? ” said 
Mr. Manley, in a tone of surprise. 

44 They exist ; but they don’t commit murders — 
not in Europe, at any rate,” said Mr. Flexen. “ In 
the East and in the United States it’s different per- 
haps. Murder is always as much of a blunder as a 
crime. It makes people so keen after the criminal. 
No: no really intelligent criminal commits murder.” 

44 Of course, that’s true,” said Mr. Manley readily. 
He paused, then added in a thoughtful tone : “ I 

wonder whether the war has weakened our concep- 
tion of the sanctity of human life? ” 

44 1 shouldn’t wonder,” said Mr. Flexen ; and their 
talk drifted into a discussion of generalities. 

He was glad that he was staying at the Castle. 
His talk with Mr. Manley had been illuminating. 

Olivia dined in her sitting-room, and with a poor 
appetite. Away from Grey, she had fallen back into 
her anxiety and fearfulness. Wilkins was waiting 
on her, an insensible block of a fellow; but even he 
perceived that she was very little aware of what she 
was eating, and now and again paused, and in some 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 155 

worrying train of thought forgot that she was din- 
ing at all. 

After dinner, however, her mood changed. The 
fearfulness and anxiety at times vanished from her 
face, and a pleasant, eager expectancy took their 
place. 

At a quarter to nine she took a dark wrap from 
her wardrobe, went quietly down the stairs, and 
slipped out of the side door, across the east lawn, 
and into the path through the shrubbery, unseen. 
Grey had suggested that he should come to the Castle 
after dinner to spend the evening with her; but they 
had decided that it would be wiser to meet in the 
pavilion. There would be talk if he spent the even- 
ing with her so soon after her husband’s death, with 
his body still unburied in the house. This was the 
only mention they made of him all the time thcv 
spent together. Besides, both of them found the 
pavilion in the wood a far more delightful meeting- 
place than the Castle. In the pavilion they felt that 
they were out of the world. 

Grey, too anxious and restless to await her at 
'he pavilion, had come down the wood and into the 
end of the path through the shrubbery. It startled 
her to come upon him so suddenly. But when they 
came out of the shrubbery into the moonlit aisle of 
the wood, the fearfulness and anxiety and restless- 
ness had vanished utterly from their faces ; both of 
them were smiling. 


156 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

They walked slowly, saying little, touching now 
and again as they swayed in their walk along the 
turf. It seemed wiser not to light the candles in 
the pavilion. The moonlight, shining through the 
high windows, gave them light enough to see one 
another’s eyes. It was all they needed. The time 
passed quickly in the ineffable confidences of lovers. 
They had a hundred things to tell one another, a 
hundred things to ask one another, in their effort to 
attain that oneness which is the aim of all true love. 
But in their joy in being together, in the joy of 
both of them, there was a feverishness, a sense that 
it was a menaced joy which must needs be brief. 
Again they were striving to wring the most out of 
the hour which was so swiftly passing. At times the 
sense of danger which hung over them was so strong, 
that they clung to one another like frightened chil- 
dren in the dark. 

Though Mr. Flexen had at the time shown him- 
self somewhat unbelieving in the matter of Mr. Man- 
ley’s conclusions about the character and temper- 
ament of Grey and Olivia, the impression they had 
made on him grew stronger. He was too good a 
judge of men not to perceive that the budding dram- 
atist had the intelligent imagination which makes 
for real shrewdness, and he was not disposed to un- 
derrate the value of the imagination in forming judg- 
ments of men and women. Probably Colonel Grey 
was a man of less intensity of emotion than Mr. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 157 

Manley had declared, and Lady Loudwater less sub- 
tile and intelligent. But, after making these reduc- 
tions, he had here possible actors in a drama of 
passion ; and though it was* his experience that 
money, not passion, is the most frequent motive of 
murder, he must take the probability of Lord Loud- 
water’s murder being a crime of passion into ac- 
count, though, of course, the violent Hutchings, 
threatened with ruin, would undoubtedly benefit 
from a monetary point of view by the murder. At 
the same time, Hutchings had just had an interview, 
which had gone better probably than he had ex- 
pected, with an uncommonly pretty girl. 

Mr. Carrington arrived soon after breakfast next 
morning, and Mr. Flexen at once discussed the mat- 
ter of the inquest with him and the Coroner. He 
found the lawyer chiefly eager to have as little scan- 
dal as possible, and the Coroner took his cue from 
the lawyer. This suited Mr. Flexen admirably. He 
had no wish to show his hand so early. He foresaw" 
that if the story of William Roper were told, and the 
story of Lord Loudwater’s quarrel with Colonel Grey 
at the “ Cart and Horses,” there would be a painful 
scandal. The majority of the people of the neigh- 
bourhood would at once believe and declare that 
Lady Loudwater, or Colonel Grey, or both, had 
murdered Lord Loudwater. Such a scandal w r ould 
in no way serve his purpose. It might rather 
hamper him. Pressure might be put on him which 


158 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

might force him to take steps before the time was 
ripe for them. 

There was no difficulty in their having exactly the 
kind of inquest they wanted, for it was wholly in the 
hands of Mr. Flexen and the Coroner. After careful 
discussion they decided to limit it to Dr. Thornhill’s 
evidence, and that of the servants with regard to the 
dead nobleman’s mood on the night of his death. 
Mr. Carrington urged strongly that full prominence 
should be given to the fact that the wound might have 
been self-inflicted, and the Coroner promised that 
this should be done. 

When the Coroner had left them the lawyer said 
to Mr. Flexen : “ In the case of a man like the late 

Lord Loudwater, you can’t be too careful, you know. 
Really, it would be better if the jury brought in a 
verdict of suicide. A suicide in a family is always 
better than a murder.” 

“ H’m! You could hardly expect me to rest con- 
tent with such a verdict,” said Mr. Flexen. “ Not, 
I mean, on the evidence.” 

“ Oh, no ; I shouldn’t,” said Mr. Carrington. 
“ All I want to avoid is a lot of quite unnecessary 
painful scandal, which won’t lead to anything of use 
to you, about innocent people connected with my late 
client. You won’t act without something pretty 
definite to go upon, while the scandalmongers will 
talk on no grounds at all. Lord Loudwater was a 
queer customer, and goodness knows what will come 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 159 

to light, for, of course, you’ll investigate the affair 
thoroughly.” 

The inquest accordingly was conducted on these 
lines. Only Dr. Thornhill, Wilkins and Holloway 
were called as witnesses ; and the Coroner directed the 
jury to bring in a verdict to the effect that Lord 
Loudwater had died of a knife-wound, and that there 
w r as no evidence to show whether it was self-inflicted 
or not. 

But in this he failed. The jury, muddle-headed, 
obstinate country folk, had made up their minds that 
Lord Loudwater was the kind of man to be murdered, 
and that, therefore, he had been murdered. They 
brought in the verdict that Lord Loudwater had 
been murdered by some person or persons un- 
known. 

Mr. Flexen, Mr. Carrington and the Coroner were 
annoyed, but they had had too wide an experience 
of juries to be surprised. 

“ This will let loose a horde of reporters on us,” 
said Mr. Carrington very gloomily. 

“ It will,” said Mr. Flexen. 44 The pet sleuths of 
the Wire and the Planet will leave London in about 
an hour.” 

“ Well, they’ll have to be dealt with,” said Mr. 
Carrington. 

“ Oh, they’re all right. I probably know them. 
I’ll get them to work with me. They must be treated 
very nicely,” said Mr. Flexen cheerfully. 


160 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ They’re always a confounded nuisance,” said 
Mr. Carrington, frowning. 

“ Not if they’re kindly treated. Indeed, I shall 
very likely find them really useful,” said Mr. Flexen. 
“ But you might give the servants a hint to be care- 
ful of what they say. The hint will come best from 
you, and be much more effective than if it came from 
any one else. You represent the family.” 

“ I’ll see about it,” said Mr. Carrington, and he 
went to Olivia’s boudoir to confer with her about 
the invitations to the funeral. 

Mr. Flexen was, indeed, little disturbed by the 
prospect of the coming of the newspaper men. A 
popular member of the chief literary and journal- 
istic club in London, he would probably know them, 
or they would know of him; and he would find them 
ready enough to work with him. Besides, even if 
they discovered that the quarrel between Colonel 
Grey and Lord Loudwater had its origin in Ladj' 
Loudwater, in the present state of mind of the coun- 
try, they would have to move very cautiously indeed 
in the case of a V. C. 

He did not, indeed, think it likely that they would 
discover the cause of the quarrel for some time — 
possibly not before their papers had tired of the 
business and sent them on other errands. Mrs. 
Turnbull only knew of Lord Loudwater’s threat to 
hound Colonel Grey out of the Army; she did not 
know the reason of his fury and his threat. Eliza- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 161 

beth Twitcher would certainly hold her tongue about 
Lord Loudwater’s subsequent quarrel with Lady 
Loudwater, and his accusations and threats; Mrs. 
Carruthers was even more unlikely to tell of it. It 
was unlikely that William Roper would come within 
the ken of the newspaper men. No one could tell 
them that he was the great repository of facts in the 
case, and Mr. Flexen believed that he had given him 
good cause to keep his mouth shut till he called on 
him to open it. 

Taking one thing with another, he thought it 
more than likely that the newspaper men would not 
hinder him in his purpose of dealing with the affair 
in his own way. 

On the other hand, they might very well be used 
to help him discover the unknown woman who had 
had the furious quarrel with Lord Loudwater at 
about eleven o’clock. Indeed, he regarded the in- 
formation about that quarrel as a sop to be thrown 
to them. She afforded just the element of melo- 
drama in the case which would be most grateful to 
their different newspapers, and provide them with 
plenty of the kind of headlines which best sold them. 
It was certain that James Hutchings would also 
occupy their attention. The fact that he had been 
discharged with contumely and threats, that he had 
departed uttering violent threats against the dead 
man, and that he had returned to visit Elizabeth 
Twitcher late that night, were doubtless being dis- 


162 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

cussed by the whole neighbourhood. However, only 
himself and William Roper knew, at present, that 
James Hutchings had come and gone by the library 
window, had actually passed twice within a few feet 
of his sleeping, or dead, master. That fact, also, 
Mr. Flexen proposed to keep to himself till he saw 
reason to divulge it. His next business must be to 
question Hutchings. 

It was quite likely that there lay the solution of 
the mystery. 


CHAPTER X 


I T would have been easy enough for Mr. Flexen 
to send for Hutchings to the Castle and ques- 
tion him there. But he did not. In the first 
place, he did not think it fair to a man who had al- 
ready prejudiced himself so seriously by his threats 
against the murdered man. Besides, he would be at 
a disadvantage, under a greater strain at the Castle, 
and Mr. Flexen wanted him where he would be at his 
best, for he wished to be able to form an exact judg- 
ment of the likelihood of his being the murderer. In- 
deed, it must be a very careful and exact judgment, 
for he felt that he was moving in deep waters; that 
it was a case in which it was possible, even easy, to 
go hopelessly wrong. Also, he was fully alive to the 
fact that if threatened men live long, the men who 
threaten are to blame for it, and that threats such 
as Hutchings’ are the commonest things in the world, 
and, as a rule, of very little importance. But there 
was always the chance that Hutchings was the un- 
usual threatener; and, if he were, he had assuredly 
been in circumstances most favourable to the carry- 
ing out of his threats. 


103 


164 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Accordingly he learnt from Inspector Perkins the 
way to the gamekeeper’s cottage in the West Wood, 
where Hutchings was staying with his father, and 
drove the car to it himself. Hutchings was alone 
in the cottage, for his father was out on his rounds. 
He invited Mr. Flexen to come in. Mr. Flexen came 
in, sat down in an arm-chair, and examined Hutch- 
ings’ face. He saw that the man was plainly very 
anxious and ill at ease. It was natural enough. 
He must perceive quite clearly how black against 
him things looked. 

He was forced also to admit to himself that 
Hutchings had not a pleasant face. It was choleric 
and truculent, and in spite of the man’s evident 
anxiety, there was a sullen fierceness on it which 
gave him no little of the air of a wild beast trapped. 

Mr. Flexen wasted no time beating about the bush, 
but said to him : “ When you visited Elizabeth 

Twitcher last night you entered and left the Castle 
by the library window.” 

“ You got that from that young blighter Man- 
ley,” said Hutchings bitterly. 

“ Not at all. I did not know that Mr. Manley 
knew it,” said Mr. Flexen. “ So you did? ” 

“ Yes, sir, I did. I always went to the village 
that way in the summer-time. It’s the shortest. 
Besides, his lordship was nearly always asleep; and 
if he wasn’t and did ’ear me, there was always some- 
thing I could be doing in the library, sir.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 165 

He spoke with eager, rather humble civility. 

“ Well, did you, as you went through the library, 
coming or going, hear Lord Loudwater snore? ” 

Hutchings knitted his brow, thinking ; then he 
said : “ I can’t call to mind as I did, sir. But, 

then, I wasn’t giving him any attention. I was 
thinking about other things altogether. Of course, 
I went out quietly enough. But that was habit.” 

“ That sounds as if you had not heard him snore 
— as if you thought that he was awake,” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“ I don’t think I thought about him at all, sir, 
at the moment. I was thinking about other things,” 
said Hutchings. 

“You say that Mr. Manley saw you go out?” 

“ Yes, sir. I passed him in the hall and went into 
the library. We had a few words, and I told him 
I had come to fetch some cigarettes as I’d left be- 
hind.” 

“Do you know what the time was?” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“No, sir — not exactly. But it must have been 
nearly half-past eleven, I should think.” 

“ It is very important to fix the time at which 
Lord Loudwater died,” said Mr. Flexen. “ You 
can’t tell me nearer than that? ” 

“ No, sir. It was nearly ten to twelve when I 
got home, and I reckon it’s about twenty minutes’ 
walk from the Castle to the cottage here.” 


166 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

44 And all you went to the Castle for was to speak 
to Elizabeth Twitcher? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

44 That was all I went for — every single thing. 
And it was all I did there — every mortal thing I 
did there, sir,” Hutchings asseverated, and he wiped 
his brow. 

44 H’m ! ” said Mr. Flexen. 44 As you passed 
through the library, did you happen to notice 
whether the knife was in its place in the big ink- 
stand P ” 

Hutchings hesitated, and his lips twitched. Then 
he said : 44 Yes, I did, sir. It was in the big ink- 

stand.” 

Mr. Flexen could not make up his mind whether he 
was telling the truth or not. He thought that he 
was not. But he did not attach much importance to 
the matter. People who knew themselves to be sus- 
pected of a crime had often told him quite stupid 
and unnecessary lies and been proved innocent after 
all. 

44 I should have thought that your mind was too 
full of other things to notice a thing like that,” he 
said in a somewhat incredulous tone. 

Then there came an outburst. Mr. Flexen had 
thought that Hutchings was worked up to a high 
degree of nervous tension, and he was. He cried out 
that he knew that every one believed that he had 
done it ; but he hadn’t. He’d never thought of it. 
He was damned if he didn’t wish he had done it. He 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 167 

might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, anyhow. 
He broke off to curse Lord Loudwater at length. 
He had been a curse to every one who came into 
contact with him while he was alive, and now he was 
getting people into trouble when he was dead. Yes: 
he wished it had occurred to him to stick that knife 
into him. He’d have done it like a shot, and he’d 
have done the right thing. The world was well rid 
of a swine like that ! 

His face was contorted, and his eyes kept gleam- 
ing red as he talked, and he came to the end of his 
outburst, trembling and panting. 

Mr. Flexen was unmoved and unenlightened. It 
was merely the outburst of a badly-frightened man 
lacking in self-control, and told him nothing. It 
left it equally likely that Hutchings had, or had not, 
committed the crime. 

“ There’s nothing to get so frantic about,” he 
said quietly to the panting man. “ It doesn’t do 
any good.” 

“ It’s all very well to talk like that, sir,” said 
Hutchings in a shaky voice. “ But I know what 
people are saying. It’s enough to make any one 
lose their temper.” 

“ I should think that yours was pretty easy to 
lose,” said Mr. Flexen dryly. 

“ I know it. It is very short, sir. It always was ; 
and I can’t help it,” said Hutchings in an apologetic 


voice. 


168 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ Then you’d better set about learning to help it, 
my man,” said Mr. Flexen. 

He took out his pipe and filled it slowly. The 
flush faded a little from Hutchings’ face. Mr. 
Flexen lighted his pipe and rose. 

Then as he went to the door he said : “ I should 

advise you to get that stupid temper well in hand. 
It makes a bad impression. Good afternoon.” 

Mr. Flexen drove back to the Castle, considering 
Hutchings carefully. There was no doubt that he 
was, indeed, badly frightened; but he had reason to 
be. Mr. Flexen could not decide whether he had 
worn the air of a guilty man or an innocent. He 
could not decide whether the butler had been too 
deeply absorbed in his own affairs to hear the snor- 
ing of Lord Loudwater as he went through the li- 
brary. It was possible that Lord Loudwater was 
alive, asleep, and yet not snoring at the time. Snor- 
ing is often intermittent. 

He considered Hutchings’ violent outburst. Cer- 
tainly such an outburst showed the man uncom- 
monly unbalanced ; it might, indeed, on occasion take 
the form of uncontrollable murderous fury. But it 
seemed to him that an actual meeting with Lord 
Loudwater would have been necessary to provoke 
that. But Lord Loudwater had been sitting in his 
chair when he died ; and if he had not killed himself, 
he had been killed in his sleep. At any rate, there 
was probably sufficient evidence, seeing what juries 


THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 169 

are, to convict Hutchings. If he had been one of 
those not uncommon ministers of the law, whose 
only desire is to secure a conviction, he would doubt- 
less arrest him at once. But it was not his only 
desire to secure a conviction; it was his very keen 
desire to find the right solution of the problem. He 
could not see where any more evidence against 
Hutchings was to come from. What Mr. Manley 
had told him about the knife, that it had been in 
general use, and that he had seen Hutchings cut 
string with it the day before the murder, greatly 
lessened its value as evidence, even if Hutchings’ 
finger-prints were thick on it. He decided to dis- 
miss Hutchings from his mind for the time being, 
and devote all his energies to discovering the mys- 
terious woman with whom Lord Loudwater had had 
the furious quarrel between eleven and a quarter- 
past. 

With this end in view, on his return to the Castle, 
he went straight to the library, where Mr. Carring- 
ton was engaged, along with Mr. Manley, in an ex- 
amination of the murdered man’s papers. They 
were uncommonly few, and Mr. Manley had already 
set them in order. Lord Loudwater seemed to have 
kept but few letters, and the papers consisted chiefly 
of receipted and unreceipted bills. 

When he found that Mr. Flexen had come to con- 
fer with the lawyer, Mr. Manley assumed an air of 
extraordinary discretion and softly withdrew. 


170 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I want to know — it is most important — 
whether there was any entanglement between Lord 
Loudwater and a woman,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I should think it very unlikely,” said Mr. Car- 
rington without hesitation. “ At least, I have never 
heard of anything of the kind, and so far I have 
come across no trace of anything of the kind among 
his papers.” 

Mr. Flexen frowned, considering; then he said: 
“ Do you happen to know whether he employed any 
one besides your firm to do legal work for him? ” 

“ As to that I can’t say. But I should not think 
it likely. It was always a business to get him to 
attend to anything that wanted doing, and he al- 
ways made a fuss about it. I can’t see him employ- 
ing another firm too. But he may have done. The 
only thing is that I ought to have found either their 
bills or the receipts for them among those papers — 
except that my late client does not appear to have 
taken the trouble to keep many receipts.” 

“ The thing is that I’ve learnt that Lord Loud- 
water had a furious quarrel with some unknown 
woman between eleven and a quarter-past on the 
night of his death, and I want to find her. You can 
see how important it is. It may be that she stabbed 
him, or it may be that she provided him with the 
motive to commit suicide — not that that seems 
likely. But you can’t tell : she might have been able 
to threaten him with some exposure. Those people 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 171 

without any self-control are always doing the most 
senseless things — bigamy, for instance, is often one 
of their weaknesses.” 

“ Loudwater was certainly without self-control ; 
but I hardly think that he was the man to commit 
bigamy,” said the lawyer. 

“ It would very much simplify matters if he had,” 
said Mr. Flexen in a dissatisfied tone. " I wonder 
whether Manley would know anything about it? ” 

“ He might,” said Mr. Carrington. 

Mr. Flexen went through the library window to 
find Mr. Manley strolling up and down the lawn 
with every appearance of enjoying his pipe and the 
respite from perusing papers. 

“ Mr. Carrington tells me that you were in Lord 
Loudwater’s confidence,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Wholly,” said Mr. Manley, with more prompt- 
ness than his actual knowledge of the facts war- 
ranted. 

It seemed to him fitting that a secretary of his 
intelligence and discretion should have been wholly 
in the confidence of any nobleman who employed him. 
Therefore he himself must have been. 

“ Then perhaps you can tell me whether he was 
entangled with a woman,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Entangled? In what way?” said Mr. Manley 
in a tone of surprise. 

“ In the usual way, I suppose. Was he engaged 
in a love-affair with any woman, or had he been? ” 


172 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

44 He certainly did not tell me anything about it 
if he was,” said Mr. Manley. 44 But that is the kind 
of thing he might very well not confide to his secre- 
tary.” 

44 You don’t happen to know if he was making 
any payments to a woman — an allowance, for ex- 
ample? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

Mr. Manley was well on his guard by now. These 
questions must surely refer to Helena. 

44 He never told me anything about it,” he said 
with perfect readiness. 44 Not, of course, that I 
would tell you if he had,” he added, in his most 
amiable voice. 44 I’ve told you that I thought that 
he made enough trouble while he was alive. I won’t 
help him to make trouble now that he’s dead.” 

Mr. Flexen thought that the asseveration was un- 
necessary, since Mr. Manley had not the knowledge 
which would make the trouble. He returned to the 
lawyer and told him that Mr. Manley had no in- 
formation to give. 

44 It seems a very important point in the affair,” 
said the lawyer. 

44 It is,” said Mr. Flexen, frowning. 44 1 wonder 
if there was an intrigue with a country girl or 
woman, some one in the neighbourhood? ” 

44 There might have been. Lord Loudwater rode 
a great deal. He was hours in the saddle every day. 
He had time and opportunity for that kind of 
thing.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 173 

“ On the other hand, there’s no need for it to 
have been any one in the neighbourhood at all. To 
say nothing of the train, it’s a short enough motor 
drive from London; and it was a moonlight night,” 
said Mr. Flexen. 

a Then you may be able to find traces of the car. 
The woman must have left it somewhere while she 
had the interview with Lord Loudwater,” said Mr. 
Carrington. 

“ I’ll try,” said Mr. Flexen, not very hopefully. 
66 But there are so few people about at night now- 
adays. Five out of the eight gamekeepers are still 
abroad. In ordinary times there would have been 
four at least of them about the roads and woods. 
On that night there was only one.” 

“ There’s the further difficulty that Lord Loud- 
water had so few friends. That will make it harder 
to find out anything about an affair of this kind — 
if he had one,” said Mr. Carrington. 

“ It will, indeed,” said Mr. Flexen, and paused, 
frowning. Then he added gravely : “ I’m sure that 

there was such an affair, and I’ve got to find the 


woman. 


CHAPTER XI 


M R. MANLEY did not lunch with Mr. 

Flexen and the lawyer. In cultivating 
Mr. Flexen he had been forced to see less 
than usual of Helena, and, interesting a companion 
as Mr. Flexen was, Mr. Manley very much preferred 
her society. He found her less nervous than she had 
been the day before, but she still wore a sufficiently 
anxious air, and was still restless. She seemed more 
pleased to see him than usual, and the warmth of her 
welcome gave him a sudden sense that she was even 
fonder of him than he had thought, or hoped. It 
stirred him to an admirable response. 

At lunch she questioned him with uncommon par- 
ticularity about the proceedings of Mr. Flexen, the 
discoveries he had made, the lines on which he was 
making his investigation. Her interest seemed nat- 
ural enough, and he told her all that he knew, which 
was little. She seemed much disappointed by his 
lack of information. He was careful not to tell her 
that Mr. Flexen had inquired of him whether he 
knew of any entanglement between Lord Loud- 
water and a woman. Thanks to his imagination he 
174 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 175 

was a young man of uncommon discretion, and it 
was plain that she was suffering anxiety enough. 

At the end of her fruitless questioning she sighed 
and said: “Of course, the whole affair is of no 
great interest to you really.” 

“ It isn’t of very great interest to me,” said Mr. 
Manley. “ You see, the victim of the crime, if it 
was a crime, was such an uninteresting creature. 
Nature, as I’ve told you before, intended him for 
a bull, changed her mind when it was too late to 
make a satisfactory alteration, and botched it. You 
must admit that the bull man is a very dull kind of 
creature, unless he can make things lively for you by 
prodding you with his horns. When he is dead, he 
is certainly done with.” 

“ I wish he was done with,” she said, with a sigh. 

“ Well, as far as you are concerned, he is done 
with, surely,” he said, in some surprise. 

“ Of course, of course,” she said quickly. “ But 
still, he seems likely to give a great deal of trouble 
to somebody ; and if there is a trial, how am I to 
know that my name won’t be brought up? ” 

“ I don’t think there’s a chance of it,” he said. 
“ How should it be brought up? ” 

“ One never knows,” she said, with a note of 
nervous dread in her voice. 

“ Well, as far as I’m concerned, he’ll get no help 
in making a posthumous nuisance of himself from 
me; and I’m inclined to think that, as things are 


176 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

going, he’ll need my help to do that,” he said in a 
tone of quiet satisfaction. 

“ A posthumous nuisance — you do have phrases ! 
And how you do dislike him ! ” she said. 

u The moderately civilized man, with a gentle dis- 
position like mine, always does hate the bull man. 
Also, he despises him,” said Mr. Manley calmly. 

She was silent a while, thinking; then she said: 
u What did you mean by saying : ‘ If it was a 

crime.’ What else could it have been ? ” 

“ A suicide. The evidence was that the wound 
might have been self-inflicted,” said Mr. Manley. 

“ Absurd ! Lord Loudwater was the last man in 
the world to commit suicide ! ” she cried. 

“ That’s purely a matter of individual opinion. I 
am of the opinion that a man of his uncontrollable 
temper was quite likely to commit suicide,” he said 
firmly. 6i As for its being absurd, if there is any 
attempt to prove any one guilty of murdering him 
on purely circumstantial evidence, that person won’t 
find anything absurd in the theory at all. In fact, 
he’ll work it for all it’s worth. I think myself that, 
with Dr. Thornhill’s evidence in mind, the police, or 
the Public Prosecutor, or the Treasury, or whoever 
it is that decides those things, will never attempt in 
this case to bring any one to trial for the murder on 
merely circumstantial evidence.” 

“ Do you think not ? ” she said in a tone of relief. 
“ I’m sure of it,” said Mr. Manley. “ But why 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 177 

do we waste our time talking about the tiresome fel- 
low when there are things a thousand times more in- 
teresting to talk about? Your eyes, now ” 

Mr. Flexen instructed Inspector Perkins and his 
men to make inquiries about the rides of Lord Loud- 
water and to try to learn whether any one had seen 
a strange car, or, indeed, a car of any kind, in the 
neighbourhood of the Castle about eleven o’clock on 
the night of the murder. Also, he could see his way 
to using the newspaper men to help him to discover 
whether there had been any entanglement known to 
the club gossips or the people of the neighbourhood 
between Lord Loudwater and a lady in London. It 
was not unlikely that he had talked of it to some one, 
for if they quarrelled so furiously he must need sym- 
pathy; and if he had not talked, the lady probably 
had, though it might very well be that she was not 
in the circle in which the Loudwaters moved in Lon- 
don. He had some doubt, however, that she was a 
London woman at all. She had shown too intimate 
a knowledge of Lord Loudwater’s habits at Loud- 
water and of the Castle itself, for it was clear from 
William Roper’s story that she had gone straight 
to the library window and through it, in the evident 
expectation of finding Lord Loudwater asleep as 
usual in his smoking-room. It was this doubt which 
prevented him from appealing to Scotland Yard for 
help in clearing up this particular point. He wished 
to make sure first that the woman did not belong to 


178 THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 

the neighbourhood. On the other hand, she might 
always be some one who had been a guest at the 
Castle. 

He was about to go in search of Lady Loudwater 
to question her about their friends and acquaint- 
ances who might have this knowledge of the Castle 
and the habits of her husband, when the sleuth from 
the Wire and the sleuth from the Planet arrived 
together, in all amity and the same vexation at be- 
ing prevented by this errand from spending the 
afternoon at the same bridge table. The sleuth of 
the Wire was a very solemn-looking young man, with 
a round, simple face. The sleuth of the Planet was 
a tall, dark man, with an impatient and slightly 
worried air, who looked uncommonly like an irritable 
actor-manager. 

Both of them greeted Mr. Flexen with affectionate 
warmth, and Douglas, the tall sleuth of the Planet, 
at once deplored, with considerable bitterness, the 
fact that he had been robbed of his afternoon’s 
bridge. Gregg, the sleuth of the Wire, preserved a 
gently-blinking, sympathetic silence. 

Mr. Flexen at once sent for whisky, soda and 
cigars, and over them took his two friends into his 
confidence. He told them that it was very doubtful 
whether it was a case of murder or suicide ; that the 
jury’s verdict was not in accordance with the di- 
rections of the Coroner, but just a piece of natural, 
pig-headed stupidity. This produced another bitter 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 179 

outcry from Douglas about the loss of his afternoon. 
Mr. Flexen did not soothe him at all by pointing out 
that he was in a beautiful country on a beautiful 
day. Then he told them about the coming of the 
mysterious woman and her violent quarrel with the 
Lord Loudwater just about the probable time of 
his death. Douglas at once lost his irritated air and 
displayed a lively interest in the matter; Gregg lis- 
tened and blinked. Mr. Flexen told them also of 
Hutchings, his threats, and his visit to the Castle. 
That was as far as his confidences went. But they 
were enough. He had given them the very things 
they wanted, and they both assured him that they 
would at once inform him of any discoveries they 
might make themselves. They left him feeling sure 
that he might safely leave the servants and the vil- 
lagers to them and the policemen. If any one in the 
neighbourhood knew anything about the mysterious 
woman, they would probably ferret it out. What 
was far more important was that tomorrow’s Wire 
and Planet would contain such an advertisement of 
her that any one in London or the country who knew 
of her relations with the dead man would learn at 
once the value of that knowledge. 

When they had gone he sent for Mrs. Carruthers, 
and learned, to his annoyance, that none of the up- 
per servants except Elizabeth Twitcher had been in 
service at the Castle for more than four months. 
She could only say that during the six weeks that 


180 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

she had been housekeeper there had been very few 
visitors ; and they had been merely callers, except 
when Colonel Grey had been coming to the Castle 
and there had been small tennis parties. She had 
heard nothing from the servants about his lordship’s 
being on particularly friendly terms with any lady 
in the neighbourhood. Hutchings would be the 
most likely person to know a thing like that. He 
had been in service at the Castle all his life. Of 
course, her ladyship, too, she might know. 

Mr. Flexen made up his mind to seek out Hutch- 
ings at once and question him on the matter; but 
Mrs. Carruthers had only just left him when he saw 
Olivia come into the rose-garden with Colonel Grey. 
He watched them idly and perceived that, for the 
time being at any rate, Olivia had lost her strained 
and anxious air. She was plainly enough absorbed, 
wholly absorbed, in Grey. She had eyes only for 
him, and Mr. Flexen suspected that her ears were at 
the moment deaf to everything but the sound of his 
voice. They did look a well-matched pair. 

It occurred to him that he might as well again 
question Olivia about her husband’s possible intrigue 
with another woman and be done with it. There 
could be no harm in Colonel Grey’s hearing the ques- 
tions. As for interrupting their pleasant converse, 
he thought that they would soon recover from the 
interruption. Accordingly he went out to the rose- 
garden. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 181 

Absorbed in one another, they did not see him 
till he was right on them, and then he saw a curious 
happening. At the sight of him a sudden, simul- 
taneous apprehension filled both their faces, and they 
drew closer together. But he had an odd fancy that 
they did not draw together for mutual protection, 
but mutually to protect. Then, almost on the in- 
stant, they were gazing at him with politely inquir- 
ing eyes, Lady Loudwater smiling. He felt that 
they were intensely on their guard. It was uncom- 
monly puzzling. 

He changed his mind about questioning Lady 
Loudwater in the presence of Grey, and asked if 
she could spare him a minute or two to answer a 
few questions. 

“ Oh, yes. I’m sure Colonel Grey will excuse me,” 
she said readily. 

“ But why shouldn’t you question Lady Loud- 
water before me?” said Colonel Grey coolly; but 
he slapped his thigh nervously with the pair of 
gloves he was carrying. “ It’s always as well for a 
woman to have a man at hand in an awkward affair 
like this, which may lead to a good deal of unpleas- 
antness if anything goes wrong. I’m a friend of 
Lady Loudwater, and I don’t suppose you fear that 
anything you discuss before me will go any further, 
Mr. Flexen.” 

He was cool enough, but Mr. Flexen did not miss 
the note of anxiety in his voice. 


182 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I don’t mind at all if Lady Loudwater would 
like it,” he said readily. “ But it’s rather a delicate 
matter.” 

“ Oh, I should like Colonel Grey to hear every- 
thing,” said Olivia quickly. 

“ It’s about the matter of an entanglement be- 
tween Lord Loudwater and some lady. Are you 
quite sure there was nothing of the kind before his 
marriage, if not after it? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I don’t know for certain,” said Olivia readily. 
“ But two or three times Lord Loudwater did talk 
about other women in a boasting sort of way. Only 
it was when he was trying to annoy me; so I didn’t 
pay much attention to it.” 

“ And you never tried to find out whether it was 
the truth or not? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ No, never. You see, I didn’t particularly care,” 
said Olivia, with unexpected frankness. “ If I’d 
cared, I expect it would have been very differ- 
ent.” 

“ And did Lord Loudwater never mention the name 
of any lady when he was boasting? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ No. Never. It was just general boasting. 
And he certainly gave me to understand that it was 
two or three, not one,” said Olivia. 

“ Have you any suspicion that he had any par- 
ticular lady in mind — any of your common friends, 
for example — some one who has stayed at the 
Castle? ” said Mr. Flexen. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 183 

“ None at all. I haven’t the slightest idea who 
it could have been. It must have been some one 
I don’t know, or I should have been nearly sure to 
notice something,” said Olivia. 

“ Can you tell me any one who might know ? ” 

Olivia shook her head, and said: “No. I don’t 
know any friend of my husband well enough to say. 
He never told me who his chief friends were. It 
never occurred to me that he had an intimate friend. 
I always thought he hadn’t, in fact.” 

“ I tell you what : you might inquire of Outhwaite, 
you know the man I mean, the man who used always 
to be getting fined for furious driving. He was a 
friend of Loudwater, the only friend I ever heard 
him mention, indeed. If he ever confided in any one, 
that would be the most likely man,” said Colonel 
Grey. 

“ Thank you. That’s an idea. I’ll certainly try 
him,” said Mr. Flexen, and he turned as if to go. 

But Olivia stopped him, saying: “ Do you think, 
then, that a woman did it, Mr. Flexen? ” 

“ Well, there is a certain amount of evidence which 
lends some colour to that theory, but I don’t want 
any one to know that,” said Mr. Flexen. 

And then he could have sworn that he heard 
Olivia breathe a faint sigh of relief. 

But Colonel Grey broke in in a tone of some 
acerbity and more anxiety : “ It’s nonsense to talk 

of any one having done it in face of the medical 


184 THE LOUDWATEE MYSTERY 

evidence — any one, that is, but Loudwater himself. 
He committed suicide.” 

“You think him a likely man to have committed 
suicide, do you ? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Yes. A man of his utterly uncontrollable 
temper is the very man to commit suicide,” said 
Colonel Grey firmly. 

“ It is, of course, always possible that he com- 
mitted suicide,” said Mr. Flexen in a non-committal 
tone. 

“ It’s most probable,” said Colonel Grey curtly. 

“ What do you think, Lady Loudwater P ” said 
Flexen. 

“ Why, I haven’t thought much about it. I al- 
ways — I — but now I do think about it, I — I — 
think it’s not unlikely,” said Olivia, in a tone of 
no great conviction. “ And he was so frightfully 
upset, too, that night — not that he had any reason 
to be; but he was.” 

“ Ah, well ; my duty is to investigate the matter till 
there isn’t a shadow of doubt left,” said Mr. Flexen 
in a pleasant voice. “ I daresay that I shall get to 
the bottom of it.” 

With that he left them and went back into the 
Castle. 

At the sight of his back Olivia breathed so deep 
a sigh of relief that Grey winced at it. 

“ If only it could be proved that Egbert did com- 
mit suicide ! ” she said wistfully. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 185 

“ I don’t see any chance of it,” said Colonel Grey 
gloomily. Then he added in a tone of but faint 
hope : “ Unless he wrote to one of his friends that 

he intended to commit suicide.” 

Olivia shook her head and said : “ Egbert 

wouldn’t do that. He hated letter-writing.” 

“ Besides, if he had, we should have heard of it 
by now,” said Grey. 

“ The friend might be away,” said Olivia. “ I 
know that Mr. Outhwaite was in France.” 

“ That’s hoping too much,” said Grey. 

They strolled on in silence, his eyes on her thought- 
ful face, which under Mr. Flexen’s questioning had 
again grown anxious. Then he said : 66 This sun is 

awfully hot. Let’s stroll through the wood to the 
pavilion. It will be delightful there.” 

66 Very well,” said Olivia, smiling at him. 

Mr. Flexen went back to his room, rang for Hol- 
loway, and bade him find Mr. Manley, if he were 
in, and ask him to come to him. Holloway went, and 
presently returned to say that Mr. Manley had gone 
out to lunch, but left word that he would be back to 
dinner. 

Mr. Flexen, therefore, gave his mind to the con- 
sideration of his talk with Colonel Grey and Olivia, 
and the longer he considered it, the more their atti- 
tude intrigued and puzzled him. They certainly 
knew something about the murder, something of the 
first importance. What could it be? 


186 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Again he asked himself could either, or both of 
them, have actually had a hand in it? It seemed 
improbable ; but he was used to the improbable hap- 
pening. He could not believe that either of them 
would have dreamt of committing murder to gain a 
personal end — to save themselves, for example, 
from the injuries with which Lord Loudwater had 
threatened them. B,ut would they commit murder 
to save some one else, one to save the other, for ex- 
ample, from such an injury? Murder was, indeed, a 
violent measure ; but Mr. Flexen was inclined to think 
that either of them might take it. Mr. Manley’s 
confident declaration that they were both creatures 
of strong emotions had impressed him. He felt that 
Colonel Grey, under the impulse to save Lady Loud- 
water, would stick at very little ; and he was used to 
violence and to hold human life cheap. On the other 
hand, Lady Loudwater would go a long way — a 
very long way — if any one she loved were threat- 
ened. The fact that she had good Italian blood in 
her veins was very present in his mind. 

Again, it would be a matter of sudden impulse, 
not of grave deliberation. The irritating sound of 
Lord Loudwater’s snores and the sight of the gleam- 
ing knife-blade on the library table coming together 
after their painful and moving discussion of their 
dangers might awake the impulse to be rid of him, at 
any cost, in full strength. He was not disposed to 
underrate the suggestion of that naked knife-blade 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 187 

on them when they were strung to such a height of 
emotion. Again, he asked himself, had either of 
them murdered Lord Loudwater to save the other? 

At any rate, they knew who had committed the 
murder. Of that he was sure. 

Could they be shielding a third person? If so, 
who was that third person? 


CHAPTER XII 


M R. FLEXEN sat pondering this question 
of a third person for a good twenty min- 
utes. 

It could not be Hutchings. There would be no 
reason to shield Hutchings unless they had insti- 
gated or employed him to commit the murder, and 
that was out of the question. He was not sure, 
indeed, that Hutchings was not the murderer; the 
snores and the knife were as likely to have excited the 
murderous impulse in him as in them. He was quite 
sure that if Dr. Thornhill had been able to swear that 
the wound was not self-inflicted, he could have se- 
cured the conviction of Hutchings. But it was in- 
credible that Lady Loudwater or Colonel Grey had 
employed him to commit the murder. No; if they 
were shielding a third person, it must be the mys- 
terious, unknown woman who had come with such 
swift secrecy and so wholly disappeared. 

It grew clearer and clearer that there most prob- 
ably lay that solution of the problem. If that 
woman herself had not murdered Lord Loudwater, 
as seemed most likely, she might very well give him 
the clue for which he was groping. He must find 
188 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 189 

her, and, of course, sooner or later he would find her. 
But the sooner he found her, the sooner would the 
problem be solved and his work done. Till he found 
her he would not find its solution. 

It still seemed to him probable that somewhere 
among Lord Loudwater’s papers there was informa- 
tion which would lead to her discovery, and he went 
into the library to confer again with Mr. Carring- 
ton on the matter. He found him discussing the 
arrangements for tomorrow’s funeral with Mrs. Car- 
ruthers and Wilkins. 

When they had gone he said : 44 Did you come 

across any information about that mysterious 
woman in the rest of the papers ? ” 

“ Not a word,” said Mr. Carrington. 

44 I’ve been thinking that you might come across 
traces of her in his pass-books — payments or an 
allowance.” 

44 I thought of that. But there’s only one pass- 
book, the one in use. Lord Loudwater doesn’t seem 
to have kept them after they were filled. And Man- 
ley knows all about this one; he wrote out every 
cheque in it for Loudwater, and he is quite sure that 
there were no cheques of any size for a woman among 
them.” 

44 That’s disappointing,” said Mr. Flexen. 
44 What about the cheques to 4 Self ’ ? Are there any 
large ones among them? ” 

44 No. They’re all on the small side — distinctly 


190 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

on the small side — cheques for ten pounds — and 
very few of them.” 

44 It is queer that it should be so difficult to find 
any information about a woman who played such an 
important part in his life,” said Mr. Flexen gloomily. 

44 It’s not so very uncommon,” said the lawyer. 

“ Well, let’s hope that the advertisement she’ll 
get from my newspaper friends will bring her to 
light,” said Mr. Flexen. 

44 It would be a pleasant surprise to me to find 
them serving some useful purpose,” said Mr. Car- 
rington grimly. 

Mr. Flexen laughed and said: 44 You’re preju- 
diced. It’s about time to dress for dinner.” 

Mr. Carrington rose with alacrity and said anx- 
iously : “ I hope to goodness Loudwater didn’t 

quarrel with his chef ! ” 

44 I’ve no reason to think so. The food’s excel- 
lent,” said Mr. Flexen. 

Mr. Manley joined them at dinner, wearing his 
best air of a discreet and indulgent man of the world, 
and confident of making himself valued. He was in 
very good spirits, for he had persuaded Helena to 
marry him that day month, and was rejoicing in his 
success. He did not tell Mr. Flexen, or Mr. Car- 
rington, of his good fortune. He felt that it would 
hardly interest them, since neither of them knew 
Helena or was intimate with himself. But, inspired 
by this success, he took the lead in the conversation, 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 191 

and showed himself inclined to be somewhat patroniz- 
ing to two men outside the sphere of imaginative lit- 
erature. 

It was Mr. Flexen who broached the subject of 
the murder. 

After they had talked of the usual topics for a 
while, he said: “By the way, Manley, did you 
hear Lord Loudwater snore after Hutchings went 
into the library, or before? ” 

“ So you know that I saw Hutchings in the hall 
that night?” said Mr. Manley. “It’s wonderful 
how you find things out. I didn’t tell you, and I 
should have thought that I was the only person 
awake in the front part of the Castle. I suppose 
that some one saw him getting his cigarettes from 
the butler’s pantry.” 

“ So that was the reason he gave you for being in 
the Castle,” said Mr. Flexen. “ Well, was it after 
or before you spoke to him that you heard Lord 
Loudwater snore?” 

Mr. Manley hesitated, thinking; then he said: 
“ I can’t remember at the moment. You see, I was 
downstairs some little time. I found an evening 
paper in the dining-room and looked through it 
there. I might have heard him from there.” 

“You can’t remember?” said Mr. Flexen in a 
tone of disappointment. 

“ Not at the moment,” said Mr. Manley. “ Is it 
important? ” 


192 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“Yes; very important. It would probably help 
me to fix the time of Lord Loudwater’s death.” 

“ I see. A lot may turn on that,” said Mr. Man- 
ley thoughtfully. 

“ Yes. You can see how immensely it helps to 
have a fact like that fixed,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Yes : of course,” said Mr. Manley. “ Well, I 
must try to remember. I daresay I shall, if I keep 
the fact in my mind gently, and do not try to wrench 
the recollection out of it. You know how hard it is 
to remember a thing, if it hasn’t caught your atten- 
tion fairly when it happened.” 

“ Yes,” said Mr. Flexen. “ But I hope to good- 
ness you’ll remember it quickly. It may be of the 
greatest use to me.” 

“ Ah, yes ; I must,” said Mr. Manley, giving him 
a queer look. 

“ I was forgetting,” said Mr. Flexen, understand- 
ing the thought behind the queer look. “ You’d 
hardly believe it, Mr. Carrington, but Mr. Manley 
told me at the very beginning of this business that he 
was not going to help in any way to discover the 
murderer of Lord Loudwater, because he considered 
that murderer a benefactor of society.” 

“ But I never heard of such a thing ! ” cried the 
lawyer in a tone of astonished disapproval. “ Such 
a course might be possible in the case of some minor 
crime, or in a person intimately connected with the 
criminal in the case of a major crime. But for an 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 193 

outsider to pursue such a course in the case of a 
murder is unheard of — absolutely unheard of.” 

“ I daresay it isn’t common,” said Mr. Manley 
in a tone of modest satisfaction. “ But I am mod- 
em; I claim the right of private judgment in all 
matters of morality.” 

“ Oh, that won’t do — that won’t do at all ! ” cried 
the shocked lawyer. “ There would be hopeless con- 
fusion — in fact, if everybody did that, the law 
might easily become a dead letter — absolutely a 
dead letter.” 

“ But there’s no fear of everybody doing anything 
of the kind. The ruck of men have no private judg- 
ment to claim the right of. They take whatever’s 
given them in the way of morals by their pastors and 
masters. Only exceptional people have ideas of 
their own to carry out ; and there are not enough ex- 
ceptional people to make much difference,” said Mr. 
Manley calmly. 

“ But, all the same, such principles are subversive 
of society — absolutely subversive of society,” said 
Mr. Carrington warmly, and his square, massive 
face was growing redder. 

“ I daresay,” said Mr. Manley amiably. “ But 
if any one chooses to have them, and act on them, 
what are you going to do about it? For example, 
if I happened to know who had murdered Lord Loud- 
water and did not choose to tell, how could you make 
me ? ” 


194 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ If there were many people with such principles 
about, society would soon find out a way of pro- 
tecting itself,” said the lawyer, in the accents of one 
whose tenderest sensibilities are being outraged. 

“ It would have to have recourse to torture then,” 
said Mr. Manley cheerfully. 

“ But let me remind you that it is a crime to be 
an accessory before, or after, the fact to murder,” 
said the lawyer in a tone of some triumph. 

“ Oh, I’m not going as far as that,” said Mr. 
Manley. “ A man might very well approve of a 
murder without being willing to further it.” 

Mr. Flexen laughed and said : “ I understand 

Mr. Manley’s point of view. Sometimes I have felt 
inclined to be judge as well as investigator — espe- 
cially in the East.” 

“ And you followed your inclination,” said Mr. 
Manley with amiable certainty. 

“ Perhaps — perhaps not,” said Mr. Flexen, smil- 
ing at him. 

“ The war has upset everything. I never heard 
such ideas before the war,” grumbled the lawyer. 

There was a silence as Holloway brought in the 
coffee and cigars. 

When he had gone, Mr. Flexen said in an almost 
fretful tone: “It’s an extraordinary thing that 
Lord Loudwater kept so few papers.” 

“ I don’t know,” said Mr. Manley carelessly. 
“ During the six months I’ve been here we were 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 195 

never stuck for want of a paper. He seemed to me 
to have kept all that were necessary.” 

“ It’s the destroying of his pass-books that seems 
so odd to me,” said the lawyer. “ A man must often 
want to know how he spent his money in a given 
year.” 

“ I’m sure I never want to,” said Mr. Manley. 
“ And certainly pass-books are unattractive-looking 
objects to have about.” 

“ All the same, they might have proved very useful 
in this case,” said Mr. Flexen. “ Of course, they 
wouldn’t tell us anything we shall not find out event- 
ually. But they might have saved us a lot of time 
and trouble. They might put us on to the track 
of another firm of lawyers who did certain business 
for Lord Loudwater.” 

66 Well, no one but Mr. Carrington’s firm did any 
business for him during the last six months,” said 
Mr. Manley, rising. “ I feel inclined to take ad- 
vantage of the moonlight and go for a stroll. So 
I will leave you to go on working on the murder. 
Good-bye for the present.” 

He sauntered out of the room, and when the door 
closed behind him, the lawyer said earnestly : “ I 

do hate a crank.” 

The words came from his heart. 

“ Oh, I don’t think he’s a crank,” said Mr. Flexen 
in an indulgent tone. “ He’s too intelligent ; that’s 
all.” 


196 THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 

44 There’s nothing so dangerous as too much in- 
telligence. It’s always a nuisance to other people,” 
said the lawyer. 44 Do you think he really knows 
anything? ” 

44 He knows something — nothing of real import- 
ance, I think,” said Mr. Flexen. 44 But, as I expect 
you’ve noticed, he likes to feel himself of importance. 
And whatever knowledge he has helps him to feel 
important. It’s a harmless hobby. By the way, is 
there anything in the way of insanity in Lady Loud- 
water’s family? ” 

64 No, I never heard of any, and I should have been 
almost certain to hear if there were any,” said the 
lawyer in some surprise. 

44 That’s all right,” said Mr. Flexen. 

44 By the way, how did you get on with the news- 
paper men? ” said the lawyer. 

44 1 put them in the way of making themselves 
very useful to me, and, at the same time, I gave 
them exactly the kind of thing they wanted. I think, 
too, that when they’ve run the story I gave them for 
all it’s worth, they’ll very likely drop the case — un- 
less, that is, we’ve really got it cleared up. I was 
careful to point out to them that the verdict of the 
coroner’s jury was a piece of pig-headed idiocy, and 
they’ll see the unlikelihood of securing a conviction 
for murder with the medical evidence as it is, unless 
we have an absolutely clear case.” 

44 But, all the same, there’s going to be a tre- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 197 

mendous fuss in the papers,” said Mr. Carrington, in 
the tone of dissatisfaction of the lawyer who is al- 
ways doing his best to keep tremendous fusses out of 
the papers. 

“ Oh, yes. That was necessary. It’s out of that 
fuss that I hope to get the evidence which will settle 
once and for all, in my mind at any rate, the ques- 
tion whether Lord Loudwater was murdered or 
not.” 

“ But surely you haven’t any doubt about that ? ” 
said the lawyer sharply. 

44 Just a trifle, and I may as well get rid of it,” 
said Mr. Flexen. 

Mr. Manley took his hat and stick and went leis- 
urely out of the front door of the Castle. He 
paused on the steps for half a minute to admire the 
moonlit night and murmur a few lines from Keats. 
Then he strolled down the drive whistling the tune 
of an American coon song. But presently the 
whistle died on his lips as he considered Mr. Flex- 
en’s keen desire to discover the other firm of lawyers 
who had done business for Lord Loudwater. He 
could not but think, when he put this keenness of Mr. 
Flexen beside Helena’s strange anxiety, that she had 
done something of which she had not told him, some- 
thing that might have drawn suspicion on her. He 
did not see what she could have done; but there it 
was. He had a feeling, an intuition that it was she 
whom Mr. Flexen was seeking, and he prided himself 


198 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

on his intuition. Well, the longer they were finding 
Shepherd, the lawyer who had handled the business 
of her allowance, the better he would be pleased. 
He had certainly done his best to block their way. 
At the same time, they might at any moment learn 
who he was. It was fortunate, therefore, that Shep- 
herd had a job in Mesopotamia, and that his busi- 
ness was closed down for the present. If they did 
learn who he was, they would still be a long while 
before they obtained any information about Helena 
from him. Mr. Manley’s keen desire was that the 
first excitement about the murder should have died 
down before they did get it. He was a firm be- 
liever in the soothing effect of time. The discovery 
of Helena’s allowance, if it were made now, might 
cause her considerable annoyance, if not actual 
trouble. Coming in six weeks’ time, or even a 
month’s time, it would be far less likely to make that 
trouble. 

He wondered what it could be that she had done to 
bring herself under suspicion. Remembering what 
she had said of her determination to discuss the halv- 
ing of her allowance with the dead man, and her re- 
mark that she had such a knowledge of his habits 
that she could make sure of having an interview 
with him to discuss it, it seeded not unlikely that she 
had gone to see him on the very night of his murder, 
and that some one had seen her. If it were so, he 
hoped that she would tell him, so that they might 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 199 

together devise some way of preventing harm coming 
from the accident that the interview had occurred at 
such an unfortunate hour. He felt sure that he 
would be able to devise such a way. He never 
blinked the fact of his extreme ingenuity. 

He found her strolling in her garden with the 
anxious frown which had awakened his uneasiness, 
still on her brow. Her face grew brighter at the 
sight of him, and presently he had smoothed the 
frown quite away. Again he realized that the mur- 
der of Lord Loudwater had had a softening effect on 
her. Before it they had been much more on equal- 
ity; now she rather clung to him. He found it 
pleasing, much more the natural attitude of a woman 
towards a man of his imagination and knowledge of 
life. He was properly gracious and protective with 
her. 

The next morning the Daily Wire opened his 
eyes and confirmed his apprehensions. The murder 
of a nobleman is an uncommon occurrence, and the 
editor of that paper showed every intention of mak- 
ing the most of it. The visit of the unknown woman 
to Lord Loudwater and their quarrel, treated with 
the nervous picturesqueness of which Mr. Gregg was 
so famous a master, formed the main and interesting 
part of the article. When he came to the end of it, 
Mr. Manley whistled ruefully. He had no difficulty 
whatever in picturing to himself the indignant and 
violent wrath of Helena, and he could not conceive 


200 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

for a moment that Lord Loudwater had been able 
to withstand it. Of course, he would be violent, too, 
but with a much less impressive violence. 

Lord Loudwater had been lavish in the matter of 
newspapers ; he was a rich man, and they had been 
his only reading. Mr. Manley read the report of 
the inquest in all the chief London dailies, and found 
in the Daily Planet another nervously picturesque 
article on the visit of the mysterious woman from 
the nervously picturesque pen of Mr. Douglas. 

Here was certainly a pretty kettle of fish. He 
could not doubt that the woman was Helena. It 
explained Flexen’s questioning him whether he had 
any knowledge of an entanglement between Lord 
Loudwater and a woman, and Flexen’s keen desire to 
find some other firm of lawyers who might have been 
called in to deal with such an entanglement. But 
he could not for a moment bring himself to believe 
that there could have ever been any need for Helena 
to have recourse to the knife. He could not see 
Lord Loudwater resisting her when she became really 
angry; he must have given way. None the less, he 
did not underestimate the awkwardness, the danger 
even, of her having paid that visit and had that 
quarrel at such an unfortunate hour. 

He had matter enough for earnest thought during 
the funeral. It was a large funeral, though there 
were not many funeral guests. Five ladies, an aunt 
and four cousins, of Lord Loudwater’s own genera- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 201 

tion, came down from London. The younger gen- 
eration was either on its way back from the war, or 
too busy with its work to find the time to attend the 
funeral of a distant relation, whom, if they had 
chanced to meet him, they neither liked nor respected. 
But there was a show of carriages from all the big 
houses within a radius of nine miles, which more than 
made up for the fewness of the guests. Also, there 
was a crowd of middle- and lower-class spectators 
who considered the funeral of a murdered nobleman 
a spectacle indeed worth attending. It was com- 
posed of women, children, old men, and a few 
wounded private soldiers. 

Olivia attended the funeral, wearing a composed 
but rather pathetic air, owing to the fact that her 
brow was most of the time knitted in a pondering, 
troubled frown. Lady Cr oxley, Lord Loudwater’s 
aged aunt, rode with her in the first coach. She 
was a loquacious soul, and whiled away the journey 
to and from the church, which is over a mile from 
the Castle, with a panegyric on her dead nephew, 
and an astonished dissertation on the strange fact 
that Olivia had not had a woman with her during this 
sad time. She ascribed her abstinence from this 
stimulant to her desire to be alone with her grief. 
Olivia encouraged her harmless babble by a vague 
murmur at the right points, and continued to look 
pathetic. It was all her aunt by marriage needed, 
and it left Olivia free to think her own thoughts. 


202 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

She gave but few of them to her dead husband; the 
living claimed her attention. 

Mr. Manley wore an air of gloom far deeper than 
his sense of the fitness of things would in the ordi- 
nary course of events have demanded. It was the re- 
sult of the nervously picturesque English which had 
flowed with such ease from the forceful pens of Mr. 
Douglas and Mr. Gregg. Mr. Carrington, who 
rode with him, and from attending the funerals of 
many clients had acquired as good a funeral air as 
any man in his profession, found his gloom exag- 
gerated. He was all the more scandalized, there- 
fore, when, as they were nearing the Castle, Mr. 
Manley suddenly cried, “ By Jove ! ” and rubbed his 
hands together with a face uncommonly radiant. 

He had had the cheering thought that he had the 
Loudwater case, if ever it should come to a trial, 
wholly in his hands. He had but to remember hav- 
ing heard Lord Loudwater snore at, say, a few min- 
utes to twelve, to break it down. He did not con- 
ceive that he would encounter any difficulty in re- 
membering that if it should be necessary. 

The solemnity of the funeral and Mr. Carrington’s 
conversation in the coach — he had talked about 
the weather — had not weakened his resolve that, 
if he could help it, no one should swing for the 
murder. 

This realization of his position of vantage made 
him eager to go to Helena to set her mind at rest, 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 203 

should she, as he thought most likely, be greatly 
troubled by the fact that her untimely visit to the 
murdered man was known. But he had to lunch at 
the Castle with the funeral guests. They were in- 
terested beyond measure in the murder and full of 
questions. He talked to them with a darkly mys- 
terious air, and made a deep impression of discreet 
sagacity on their simple minds. He observed that 
Olivia appeared to have been afflicted more deeply by 
the funeral than he had expected. She looked 
harassed and seemed to find the lunch rather a 
strain. He observed also that she did not, as did 
her guests, who were so slightly acquainted with him, 
pay any tribute to the character of her dead hus- 
band. 

Mr. Flexen was not lunching with them. He had 
spent an expectant morning waiting for the local 
effects of the story in the Wire and Planet , and in 
having that story spread far and wide by Inspector 
Perkins and his two men among the villagers, who 
only saw a paper in the public-houses of the neigh- 
bourhood on a Sunday. He hoped, if it had been a 
local affair, to have information about it in the 
course of the day. Up to lunchtime the newspaper 
advertisement of the mysterious woman had proved 
as fruitless as the earlier private inquiries. But he 
remained hopeful. 

It was past three before Mr. Manley escaped from 
the funeral guests and betook himself at a brisk pace 


204 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

to Helena’s house. As he went he made up his mind 
that the quality most fitting the occasion was discre- 
tion. He had better not let it appear that he was 
sure that she was the mysterious woman of the Daily 
Wire. He must make his announcement that, in the 
event of any one being brought to trial for the mur- 
der of Lord Loudwater, his evidence could break 
down any case for the prosecution, and that he would 
see that it did break it down, appear as casual as 
possible. But, at the same time, he must make it 
quite clear to her that he could secure her safety. 
He felt that though she might think his firm resolve 
that no one should swing for the murder quixotic, 
she would perceive that it was only in keeping with 
his generous nature. 

He had expected to find her much more disturbed 
by the nervously picturesque articles of Mr. Gregg 
and Mr. Douglas than she appeared. Indeed, she 
seemed to him much less under a strain, much less 
nervous than she had been the night before. None 
the less, he was careful to reassure her wholly by 
the announcement of his discovery of the important 
nature of the evidence he could give, before he said 
anything about those articles. When he did tell 
her that he could break down any case for the prose- 
cution, she did not at once confess that she was the 
woman of whose visit to Lord Loudwater those 
stories told; they did not even discuss the question, 
which had seemed so important to the Daily Wire , 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 205 

who that woman was. They contented themselves 
with discussing the question who could have seen 
her. He admired her spirit in not telling him, her 
readiness to forgo his comfort and support before 
the absolute need for them was upon her. Her force 
of character was what he most admired in her, and 
this was a striking example of it. His own char- 
acter, he knew, was rather subtile and delicate than 
strong. He was more than ever alive to the ad- 
vantage of having her to lean upon in the difficult 
career that lay before him. 

Mr. Flexen was disappointed that the advertise- 
ment of the mysterious woman in the Wire and the 
Planet brought no information about her during the 
morning. After lunch Mr. Carrington returned to 
London. At half-past three Mr. Flexen telegraphed 
to Scotland Yard to ask if any one had given them 
information about the woman he was seeking. No 
one had. Then he realized that he was unreasonably 
impatient. Whoever had the information would 
probably think the matter over, and perhaps confer 
with friends before coming forward. In the mean- 
time, he would make inquiries of James Hutchings. 

He drove to the gamekeeper’s cottage to find 
James Hutchings sitting on a chair outside it and 
reading the Planet. He perceived that he looked 
puzzled. Also, he perceived that he still wore a 
strained, hunted air, more strained and hunted by 
far than at their last talk. 


206 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

He walked briskly up to him and said : 44 Good 

afternoon. I see that you’re reading the story of 
Lord Loudwater’s murder in the Planet . It oc- 
curred to me that you might very likely be able 
to tell me who the lady who visited Lord Loudwater 
on the night of his murder was. At any rate, you 
can probably make a guess at who she was.” 

Hutchings shook his head and said gloomily : 
44 No, sir, I can’t. I don’t know who it was and I 
can’t guess. I wish I could. I’d tell you like a 
shot.” 

44 That’s odd,” said Mr. Flexen, again disap- 
pointed. 44 I should have thought it impossible for 
your master to have been on intimate terms with a 
lady without your coming to hear of it. You’ve al- 
ways been his butler.” 

44 Yes, sir. But this is the kind of thing as a 
valet gets to know about more than a butler — 
letters left about, or in pockets, you know, sir. But 
his lordship never could keep a valet long enough 
for him to learn anything. He was worse with valets 
than with any one.” 

44 1 see,” said Mr. Flexen in a vexed tone. 44 But 
still, I should have thought you’d have heard 
something from some one, even if the matter had 
not come under your own eyes. Gossip moves pretty 
widely about the countryside.” 

44 Oh, this didn’t happen in the country, sir — 
not in this part of the country, anyhow. It must 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 207 

have been a London woman,” said Hutchings with 
conviction. “ If she’d lived about here, I must have 
heard about it.” 

“ It was a lady, you must know. The papers do 
not bring that fact out. My informant is quite sure 
that it was a lady,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ That’s no ’elp, sir,” said Hutchings despond- 
ently. “ She must have come down by train and 
gone away by train.” 

“ She would have probably been noticed at the 
station. But she wasn’t. Besides, she could not 
have walked back to the station in time to catch 
the last train. I’m sure of it.” 

“ Then she must have come in a car, sir.” 

“ That is always possible,” said Mr. Flexen. 

There was a pause. 

Then Hutchings burst out: “ You may depend 
on it that she did it, sir. There isn’t a shadow of 
a doubt. You get her and you’ll get the murderess.” 

He spoke with the feverish, unbalanced vehemence 
of a man whose nerves are on edge. 

“ You think so, do you? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I’m sure of it — dead certain,” cried Hutchings. 

“ It’s a long way from visiting a gentleman late 
at night and quarrelling with him to murdering him,” 
said Mr. Flexen. 

“ And she went it. You mark my words, sir. 
She went it. I don’t say that she came to do it. 
But she saw that knife lying handy on the library 


208 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

table and she did it,” said Hutchings with the same 
vehemence. 

“ Any one who passed through the library would 
see that knife,” said Mr. Flexen carelessly, but his 
eyes were very keen on Hutchings’ face. 

Hutchings was pale, and he went paler. He tried 
to stammer something, but his voice died in his 
throat. 

“ Well, I’m sorry you can’t give me any informa- 
tion about this lady. Good afternoon,” said Mr. 
Flexen, and he turned on his heel and went back to 
the car. 

He was impressed by Hutchings’ air and manner. 
Of course, believing himself to be suspected, the man 
was under a strain. But would the strain on him be 
so heavy as it plainly was, if he knew himself to be 
innocent? And then his eagerness to fasten the 
crime on the mysterious woman. It had been aston- 
ishingly intense, almost hysterical. 

When he reached the Castle he found Inspector 
Perkins awaiting him with a small package which 
had come by special messenger from Scotland Yard. 
It contained enlarged photographs of the finger- 
prints on the handle of the knife. They were all 
curiously blurred. 

The murderer had worn a glove. 


CHAPTER Xni 


M R. FLEXEN studied the photographs and 
the report which stated this fact with a 
lively interest and a growing sense of its 
great importance. For one thing, it settled the 
question of suicide for good and all. Lord Loud- 
water had worn no glove. 

Also, it strengthened the case against the mys- 
terious woman. She had come, apparently, from a 
distance, and probably in a motor-car. If she had 
driven herself down, she would be wearing gloves. 
Also, only a woman would be likely to be wearing 
gloves on a warm summer night. Indeed, coming 
from a distance by train, or car, she would certainly 
wear gloves. She would not dream of coming to an 
interview, with a man with whom she had been inti- 
mate and whom she wished to bend to her will, with 
hands dirtied by a journey. 

If that gloved hand had not been the hand of the 
mysterious woman, then the murder had been pre- 
meditated, and the murderer or murderess had put 
on gloves with the deliberate purpose of leaving no 
finger-prints. 


209 


210 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

It was the woman. In all probability it was the 
woman. 

Then Mr. Flexen’s sub-conscious mind began to 
jog his intellect. Somewhere in his memory there 
was a fact he had noted about gloves, and that fact 
was now important in its bearing on the case. He 
set about trying to recall it to his mind. He was 
not long about it. Of a sudden he remembered that 
he had been a trifle surprised to perceive that 
Colonel Grey had been carrying gloves when he had 
found him in the rose-garden with Lady Loudwafcer. 

His surprise had passed quickly enough. He had 
decided that the life in the trenches had not weak- 
ened Colonel Grey’s habit, as a fastidious man about 
town, of taking care of his hands. He remembered, 
too, that at his first interview with him he had ob- 
served that his hands were uncommonly well shaped 
and well kept. 

He did not suppose that Colonel Grey had come 
to the Castle on the night of the murder wearing 
gloves with the deliberate intention of killing Lord 
Loudwater without leaving finger-prints. But sup- 
pose that, as he came away from a distressing inter- 
view with Lady Loudwater, the knife on the library 
table had caught his eye and his gloves had been in 
his pocket? 

Mr. Flexen took out his pipe, lit it, and moved to 
an easy-chair to let his brain work more easily. He 
tabulated his facts. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 211 

Colonel Grey had gone through the library window 
at about twenty minutes past ten. 

Hutchings had gone through the library window 
at half-past ten. 

The mysterious woman had gone through the li- 
brary window at about ten minutes to eleven. 

She came out of the library window at about a 
quarter-past eleven after a violent quarrel with Lord 
Loudwater. 

Colonel Grey came out of the library window at 
about twenty-five minutes past eleven, after a dis- 
tressing interview with Lady Loudwater, apparently 
in a very bad temper. 

James Hutchings had come out of the library 
window at about half-past eleven, also, if William 
Roper might be believed, furious. 

Lady Loudwater had come through the library 
window at a quarter to twelve, and gone back 
through it at five minutes to twelve. 

Each of the last three had passed within fifteen 
feet of Lord Loudwater, dead or alive, both on enter- 
ing and on coming out of the Castle. The Mysteri- 
ous woman had actially been in the smoking-room 
with him. 

If Lady Loudwater’s statement that she heard her 
husband snoring at five minutes to twelve were to be 
accepted, neither Colonel Grey, Hutchings, nor the 
mysterious woman could have committed the murder 
— unless always one of them had returned later and 


212 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

committed it. That possibility must be borne in 
mind. 

But Mr. Flexen did not accept her statement. If 
he were to accept it, she herself at once became the 
most likely person to have committed the crime. It 
was always possible that she had. She certainly had 
the best reasons of any one, as far as he knew, for 
committing it. 

The evidence of Mr. Manley about the time at 
which he heard Lord Loudwater snore was of the 
first importance. But how to get it out of him? 
Mr. Flexen had a strong feeling that not only would 
Mr. Manley afford no help to bring the murderer of 
Lord Loudwater to justice, but, that owing to the 
vein of Quixotry in his nature, he was capable of 
helping the murderer to escape. That he could do. 
He had only to declare that he heard Lord Loud- 
water snore at twelve o’clock to break down the case 
against any one of the four persons between whom 
the crime obviously lay. Mr. Flexen had a shrewd 
suspicion that Mr. Manley would fail to remember 
at what time he had last heard Lord Loudwater’s 
snores till the police had set about securing the con- 
viction of one of the possible murderers. Then, 
when the case of the police against the murderer 
was revealed, he would come forward and break it 
down. He had decided that Mr. Manley was a sen- 
timentalist, and he knew well the difficulty of dealing 
with sentimentalists. Moreover, Mr. Manley was 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 213 

animated by a grudge against the murdered man. 
Mr. Flexen could quite conceive that he might pres- 
ently be regarding perjury as a duty; he had had 
experience of the queer way in which the mind of 
the sentimentalist works. 

It appeared to him that everything depended on 
his finding the mysterious woman. 

That afternoon Elizabeth Twitcher determined to 
go to see James Hutchings. She had not seen him 
since their interview on the night of the murder. In 
the ordinary course she would not have dreamt of 
going to him after that interview, for it had left 
them on such a footing that further advances, re- 
pentant advances, must come from him. But there 
were pressing reasons why she should not wait for 
him to make the advances which he would in ordinary 
circumstances have made after his sulkiness had 
abated. All her fellow-servants and all the villagers, 
who were not members of the Hutchings family, were 
assured that he had murdered Lord Loudwater. 
Three of the maids, who were jealous of her greater 
prettiness, had with ill-dissembled spitefulness con- 
gratulated her on having dismissed him before the 
murder; her mother had also congratulated her on 
that fact. Elizabeth Twitcher was the last girl in 
the world to desert a man in misfortune, and, consid- 
ering James Hutchings’ temper, she could only con- 
sider the murder a misfortune. Besides, she had 
been very fond of him; she was very fond of him 


214 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

still, and the fact that he was in great trouble was 
making him dearer to her. 

Moreover, every one who spoke to her about him 
told her that he was looking miserable beyond words. 
Her heart went out to him. 

None the less, she did not go to see him without a 
struggle. She felt that he ought to come to her. 
However, her pride had been beaten in that struggle 
by her fondness and her pity — even more by her 
pity. 

When she knocked at the door of his father’s cot- 
tage James Hutchings himself opened it, and his 
harassed, hang-dog air settled in her mind for good 
and all the question of his guilt. She was not 
daunted ; indeed, a sudden anger against Lord Loud- 
water for having brought about his own murder 
flamed up in her. Like every one else who had 
known him, she could feel no pity for him. 

James Hutchings showed no pleasure whatever at 
the sight of her. Indeed, he scowled at her. 

“ Come to gloat over me, have you? ” he growled 
bitterly. 

65 Don’t be silly ! ” she said sharply. “ What 
should I want to do a thing like that for? Is your 
father in? ” 

“ No ; he isn’t,” said James Hutchings sulkily, but 
his eyes gazed at her hungrily. 

He showed no intention of inviting her to enter. 
Therefore she pushed past him, walked across the 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 215 

kitchen, sat down in the window-seat, and surveyed 
him. 

He shut the door, turned, and gazed at her, scowl- 
ing uncertainly. 

Then she said gently: “You’re looking very 
poorly, Jim.” 

“ I didn’t think you’d be the one to tell of my 
being in the Castle that night ! ” he cried bit- 
terly. 

“ It wasn’t me,” she said quietly. “ It was that 
little beast, Jane Pittaway. She heard us talking 
in the drawing-room.” 

“Oh, that was it, was it?” he said more gently. 
Then, scowling again, he cried fiercely: 

“ I’ll wring her neck ! ” 

“ That’s enough of that ! ” she said sharply. 
“ You’ve talked a lot too much about wringing 
people’s necks. And a lot of good it’s done you.” 

“ Oh, I know you believe I did it, just like every- 
body else. But I tell you I didn’t. I swear I 
didn’t ! ” he cried loudly, with a vehemence which 
did not convince her. 

“ Of course you didn’t,” she said in a soothing 
voice. “ But what are you going to do if they try 
to make out that you did? What are you going to 
tell them ? ” 

He gazed at her with miserable eyes and said 
in a miserable voice : “ God knows what I’m to tell 

them. It isn’t a matter of telling them. It’s how 


216 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

to make ’em believe it. These people never believe 
anything; the police never do.” 

She gazed at him thoughtfully, with eyes com- 
passionate and full of tenderness. They were a 
balm to his unhappy spirit. 

The hardness slowly vanished from his face. It 
became merely troubled. He walked quickly across 
the room, dropped into the seat beside her and put 
an arm round her. 

66 You’re a damned sight too good for me, Lizzie,” 
he said in a gentler voice than she had ever heard 
him use before, and he kissed her. 

“ Poor Jim ! ” she said. And again : “ Poor 

Jim!” 

He trembled, breathing quickly, and held her tight. 

After a while he regained control of himself, and 
sat upright. But he still held her tightly to him 
with his right arm. 

They began to discuss his plight and how he might 
best defend himself. She was fully as fearful as he. 
But she did not show it. She must cheer him up, and 
she kept insisting that the police could not fix the 
murder on him, that they had nothing to go upon. 
If they had, they would have already arrested him. 
Certainly they knew what the servants and the 
village people were saying. But that was just talk. 
There wasn’t any evidence; there couldn’t be any 
evidence. 

Her support and encouragement put a new spirit 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 217 

into him. He had been so alone against the world. 
His own family, though they had loudly and fiercely 
protested his innocence to their friends and enemies 
in the village, had not expressed this faith in him to 
him. 

Indeed, his father had expressed their real belief, 
when he said to him gloomily : “ I always told you 

that damned temper of yours would get you into 
trouble, Jim.” 

Then Elizabeth gave him his tea. After it they 
talked calmly with an actual approach to cheerful- 
ness till it was time for her to return to the Castle 
to dress Olivia’s hair for dinner. Then she would 
have it that he should escort her back to the Castle. 
She declared, truly enough, that he was doing him- 
self no good by moping at the cottage, that people 
would say that he dare not show himself. He must 
hold his head up. 

She insisted also that they should take the long 
way round, through the village; that people should 
see them together. She insisted that he should look 
cheerful, and talk to her all the length of the village 
street. The looking cheerful helped to lighten his 
spirit yet more. As they went through the village 
she kept looking up at him in an affectionate fashion 
and smiling. 

The village was, indeed, taken aback. It had 
made up its mind that James Hutchings was a pariah 
to be shunned. It was not only taken aback, it was 


218 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

annoyed. It had no wish that its belief that James 
Hutchings had murdered Lord Loudwater should be 
in any way unsettled. 

Mrs. Roper, the mother of William Roper and a 
lifelong enemy of the Hutchings family, summed up 
the feeling of her neighbours about the behaviour of 
James Hutchings and Elizabeth. 

" Brazen, I call it,” she said bitterly. 

Before they reached the Castle, Elizabeth had 
come to feel that during the last three days James 
Hutchings had changed greatly, and for the better. 
She had an odd fancy that murdering his master had 
improved his character; the fear of the police had 
softened him. Not once did he try to domineer over 
her. That domineering had been the source of their 
not infrequent quarrels, for she was not at all of 
a temper to endure it. 

Olivia and Grey had again spent their afternoon 
in the pavilion in the East wood. Their bearing at 
times had been oddly like that of Elizabeth and 
James Hutchings. Now and again they had lapsed 
from their absorption in one another into a like fear- 
fulness. But, unlike Elizabeth and James Hutch- 
ings, neither of them said a word about the murder 
of Lord Loudwater. But both of them seemed a 
little less under a strain than they had been. This 
new factor of a quarrel with an unknown woman 
seemed to open a loophole. Olivia’s colouring had 
lost some of its warmth; the contours of her face 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 219 

were less rounded. Grey had manifestly taken a 
step backwards in his convalescence; his face was 
thinner, even a little haggard ; there was a somewhat 
strained watchfulness in his eyes. 

They could not tear themselves away from the 
pavilion till the. last moment, and he walked back 
with her as far as the shrubbery on the edge of the 
East lawn, and there they parted after she had 
promised to meet him there that evening at nine. 

As Olivia came into her sitting-room Elizabeth and 
James Hutchings came to the back door of the 
Castle. She did not say good-bye at once; of set 
purpose, she lingered talking to him that the other 
servants might understand clearly that her attitude 
to him was definitely fixed. 

But at last she held out her hand and said : “ I 

must be getting along to her ladyship, or she’ll be 
waiting for me.” 

J ames Hutchings looked round, considered the 
coast sufficiently clear, caught her to him, kissed 
her, and said huskily: “You’re just a ministering 
angel, Lizzie, and there’s more sense in your little 
finger than in all my fat head. I’m feeling a differ- 
ent man, and I’ll baulk them yet.” 

“ Of course you will, Jim,” said Elizabeth, and she 
opened the door. 

“ Lord, how I wish I was coming in with you — 
back in my old place ! I should be seeing you most 
of the time,” he said wistfully. 


220 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Elizabeth stopped short, flushing, and looked at 
him with suddenly excited eyes. 

At his words a great thought had come into her 
mind. 

“ Wait a minute, Jim. Wait till I come back,” 
she said somewhat breathlessly, and, leaving the door 
open, she hurried down the passage. 

She hurried up to her room, took off* her hat, and 
hurried to Olivia. She found her in her sitting-room 
looking through an evening paper to learn if any 
new fact about the murder had come to light. 

“ If you please, your ladyship, James Hutchings 
has come to ask if your ladyship would like him to 
come back for the time being till you’ve got suited 
with another butler,” said Elizabeth in a rather 
breathless voice. 

Olivia looked at Elizabeth’s flushed, excited and 
hopeful face, and smiled. 

“ Why, have you and James made it up, Eliza- 
beth? ” she said. 

“ Yes, m’lady,” said Elizabeth, and the flush deep- 
ened in her cheeks. 

“ Then go and tell him to come back, by all 
means,” said Olivia. 

“ Thank you, m’lady,” said Elizabeth, in accents 
of profound gratitude, and she ran out of the room. 

Olivia smiled and then she sighed. It was pleas- 
ant to have given Elizabeth such obviously keen 
pleasure. She never dreamed that Elizabeth and 


THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 221 

James Hutchings were under the same strain of fear 
and anxiety as she herself, and that she had given 
them great help in their trouble, for Elizabeth saw 
that the return of James Hutchings to his situation 
would give the wagging tongues full pause. 

James Hutchings was dumbfounded on receiving 
the message. He stared at Elizabeth with his mouth 
open. 

c< Be quick, Jim. Get your clothes and be back 
in time to wait on her ladyship at dinner,” said 
Elizabeth. 

James Hutchings came out of his stupor. 

“ Why, L-L-Lizzie, you must let me p-p-put up 
our b-b-banns tomorrow,” he stammered. 

“ Be off ! ” said Elizabeth, stamping her foot. 
“ We can talk about that later.” 

When she came from her bath Olivia sent Eliza- 
beth to tell Holloway that she would dine with Mr. 
Flexen and Mr. Manley that evening. She had a 
sudden desire to see more of Mr. Flexen, to weigh 
him as an antagonist. 

Mr. Flexen was somewhat surprised to receive the 
information; then, considering the terms on which 
Olivia had been with her husband, he found her action 
natural enough. After all, she was not a woman of 
the middle class, bound to make a pretence of griev- 
ing for a wholly unamiable bully. Also, he was 
pleased: to dine with so charming a creature as 
Olivia would be pleasant and stimulating. In the 


222 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

course of the evening his wits might rise to the solu- 
tion of his problem. Moreover, it would be odd if he 
did not gain a further, valuable insight into her 
character. 

He was yet more surprised to find James Hutch- 
ings, still rather pale and haggard, but quite cool 
and master of himself, superintending the waiting 
of Wilkins and Holloway at dinner. Also, he liked 
the way in which he spoke to Olivia and looked at 
her. To Mr. Flexen, James Hutchings had the air 
of the authentic faithful dog. He was inclined to 
a better opinion of him. 

Plainly, too, Olivia had learned that tongues were 
wagging against him, and had taken this way of 
checking them. It was a generous act. At the 
same time, he could very well believe that Olivia 
might, unconsciously of course, be on the side of the 
murderer of such a husband. 

Thanks to Mr. Manley’s invaluable sense of what 
was fitting, there was no constraint about the dinner. 
He had decided that they were three people of the 
world dining together, and the fact that there had 
been a murder in the house three days before and a 
funeral in the morning should not be allowed to 
impair their proper nonchalance. At the same time, 
decorum must be preserved ; there must be no 
laughter. 

Accordingly he took the conversation in hand, and 
kept it in hand. Mr. Flexen was somewhat aston- 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 223 

ished at the ability with which he did it; now and 
again he felt as if, personally, he were performing 
feats on the loose wire, but that, thanks to Mr. 
Manley, he was not going to fall off. They talked 
of the usual subjects on which people who have not 
a large circle of common acquaintances fall back. 
They all three abused the politicians with perfect 
sympathy ; they abused the British drama with per- 
fect sympathy; with no less perfect sympathy they 
abused the Cubists and the Vorticists and the New 
Poets. Mr. Flexen had an odd feeling that they 
were behaving with entire naturalness and propri- 
ety; that their real interest was in the politicians, 
the British drama, the Cubists, the Vorticists and the 
New Poets, and not at all in the fate of the murderer 
of the late Lord Loudwater. After a while he found 
himself vying earnestly with Mr. Manley in an effort 
to display himself as a man of at least equal insight 
and intelligence. 

Olivia did not talk much herself. She never did. 
But she displayed a quickness of understanding and 
soundness of judgment which stimulated them. All 
the while she was watching and weighing Mr. Flexen. 
He never once perceived it. Plainly enough, the 
talk did her good. She had come to dinner looking, 
Mr. Flexen thought, rather under the water. Be- 
fore long she was looking, as she had resolved to 
look, her usual self. When, at a few minutes to 
nine, she left them, she was looking the most charm- 


224 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ing and sympathetic creature in the world, and, what 
was more, a creature without a care. 

When the door closed behind her, she seemed to 
have taken with her a good deal of the brightness of 
the room. Mr. Flexen dropped back into his chair 
and frowned. In the silence which fell he wondered. 
Plainly she was free enough from care now. 

“ But when the feast is finished and the lamps 
expire ” 

Then Mr. Manley said, in a tone almost insolent: 
“ If you think she murdered that red-eyed bull in 
a china shop, you’re wrong. She didn’t.” 

Mr. Flexen did not resent his tone. Indeed, be- 
fore he could speak, it flashed on him that if she 
had done so, and Justice was depending on him him- 
self to bring her to it, it was depending on a some- 
what frail reed. He liked Mr. Manley for his read- 
iness to fight for her cause. 

He laughed gently and said : “ I wasn’t think- 

ing so. I was only wondering.” Then his eyes on 
Mr. Manley’s face turned very keen, and he said: 
“ I believe you know a good deal more about the 
affair than I do, if you liked to speak.” 

It seemed to him that for a moment Mr. Manley’s 
desire to make himself valued struggled with his 
desire to be accurate. 

Then the young man shook his head and said in 
a tone of surprise: “But what nonsense! You 
know so much more about it than I do. Why, you 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 225 

must have all the threads in your hands by now. I 
never even dreamt of the Daily Wires mysterious 
woman.” 

“Not quite all — yet. But they’re coming all 
right,” said Mr. Flexen, with a confidence he was 
far from feeling. 

James Hutchings, coming into the room to fetch 
cigarettes for Olivia, interrupted them. 

“ I’m glad to see you back again, Hutchings,” 
said Mr. Manley in a tone of hearty congratulation. 
“ Your going away for a trifle after all the years 
you’ve been here was a silly business.” 

“ Thank you, sir,” said Hutchings gratefully. 

When Hutchings had gone, Mr. Flexen said : 
“ It’s all very well your talking, but it was you who 
suggested that Lady Loudwater was a woman of 
strong primitive emotions with a strain of Italian 
blood in her.” 

“ I never suggested for a moment that she was a 
woman of primitive emotions,” Mr. Manley protested 
with some vehemence. 

“ But the emotions of all women are primitive,” 
said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Not the emotion excited in them by beauty,” 
said Mr. Manley with chivalrous warmth. “ And, 
hang it all ! Does she look like a woman to commit 
murder? ” 

“ Not on her own account, certainly,” said Mr. 
Flexen. 


226 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ And on whose account should she commit mur- 
der? ” cried Mr. Manley. 

Mr. Flexen shrugged his shoulders. 

“ I said you knew ten times as much about the 
business as I do,” said Mr. Manley in a tone of 
triumph. 


CHAPTER XIV 


M R. FLEXEN awoke next morning hopeful 
of news of the mysterious woman. But 
the letters addressed to him at the Castle 
and those brought over from the office of the Chief 
Constable at Low Wycombe brought none. After 
breakfast, still hopeful, he telephoned to Scotland 
Yard. No information had reached it. 

He perceived clearly that the case was at a dead- 
lock till he had that information. He was sure that 
it would come sooner or later, possibly from the 
neighbourhood, more probably from London. It 
was always possible that Mr. Carrington might dis- 
cover that some other lawyer had handled an en- 
tanglement for Lord Loudwater. In the meantime, 
his work at the Castle was done. He had exhausted 
its possibilities. There was no reason why he should 
not return to his rooms at Low Wycombe. After 
having conferred with Inspector Perkins, he decided 
to leave one of the two detectives to continue making 
inquiries in the neighbourhood. He told James 
Hutchings that he would like his clothes packed, and 
went to the rose-garden to taken his leave of Olivia 
and thank her for her hospitality. 

227 


228 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

He found her looking very charming in a light 
summer frock of white lace with a few black bows 
set about it, and he thought that she seemed less 
under a strain than she had seemed the day before. 
He told her that he was returning to Low Wycombe ; 
she expressed regret at his going, and thanked him 
for his efforts to clear up the matter of Lord Loud- 
water’s death. They parted on the friendliest terms. 

As he came away, Mr. Flexen thought it signifi- 
cant that, though she had thanked him for his ef- 
forts, she had made no inquiry about the result of 
them. It might be that she dreaded to hear that 
they were on the way to be successful. 

He observed that James Hutchings, who watched 
over his actual departure, seemed less pale and hag- 
gard than he had been the night before. He could 
well believe that he was glad to see him going without 
having had him arrested. 

As he drove through the park he told himself that 
Lady Loudwater and Mr. Manley between them 
would probably break down any case the police might 
bring aginst any one but the mysterious woman, and 
they might break down that. For his part, he was 
not going to give much time or attention to it till 
the mysterious woman had been discovered, and he 
did not think that he would be urged by Headquart- 
ers to do so after he had sent in his report, for, mind- 
ful of what he had told them of the unsatisfactory 
nature of Dr. Thornhill’s evidence, Mr. Gregg in the 


THE LOU DWATER MYSTERY 229 

Daily Wire and Mr. Douglas on the Daily Planet 
were dealing with the case in a half-hearted manner, 
though they were still clamouring with some vivacity 
for the mysterious woman. 

As Mr. Flexen came out of the park gates he met 
William Roper on the edge of the West wood, 
stopped the car, and walked a few yards down the 
road to talk to him out of hearing of the chauffeur. 

“ I gather that you haven’t told any one of what 
you saw on the night of Lord Loudwater’s death, 
or I should have heard of it,” he said. 

“ Not a word, I haven’t,” said William Roper. 

“ That’s good,” said Mr. Flexen in a tone of warm 
approval. “ It might spoil everything to put people 
on their guard.” 

He was more strongly than ever resolved to pre- 
vent, if he could, the gamekeeper from setting afoot 
a scandal about Lady Loudwater which could be of 
no service to the police or any one else. 

“ Everybody says as James Hutchings did it, sir,” 
said William Roper. 

<£ H’m ! And what do they say about the mys- 
terious lady the papers are talking about — the 
lady you saw? ” 

“Oh, they don’t pay no ’eed to ’er — not about 
’ere, sir. They know Jim Hutchings,” said William 
Roper contemptuously. 

“ I see,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ ’Er ladyship and Colonel Grey, they still spends 


230 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

a lot of their time in the East wood pavilion. But 
now ’er ladyship’s a widder, it’s nobody’s business 
but their own, I reckon,” said William Roper. 

66 Of course not, of course not,” said Mr. Flexen 
quickly, pleased to find that the ferret-faced game- 
keeper attached so little importance to it. 44 I sup- 
pose people about here see that.” 

44 They don’t know about it. Nobody knows 
about it but me, and I don’t tell everything I sees 
unless there’s something to be got by it. A still 
tongue makes a wise ’ead, I say,” said William 
Roper, with a somewhat vainglorious air. 

44 Quite right — quite right,” said Mr. Flexen 
heartily. 44 Many a man’s tongue has lost him a 
good job.” 

44 You’re right there, sir. But not me it won’t,” 
said William Roper with emphasis. 

44 1 can see that. You’ve too much sense. Well, 
I shall keep in touch with you, and when the time 
comes you’ll be called on. Drink my health. Good 
day,” said Mr. Flexen, giving him half-a-crown. 

He walked back to the car, pleased to have done 
Olivia the service of closing William Roper’s mouth, 
at any rate for a time. He would talk, of course, 
sooner or later, probably sooner. But he might 
have closed his mouth for a fortnight. 

William Roper walked on to the village and went 
into the 44 Bull and Gate.” The village was simmer- 
ing in a very lively fashion. The return of James 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 231 

Hutchings to his situation at the Castle was a fact 
with which it could not grapple easily. It was be- 
wildered and annoyed. 

William Roper had not, as he had assured Mr. 
Flexen, told what he had seen on the night of the 
murder of Lord Loudwater, but he had been drop- 
ping hints. He dropped more. He was a sup- 
porter of the theory that James Hutchings was the 
murderer because he desired to oust the father of 
James Hutchings from his post as head-gamekeeper. 
That was the reason also of his belief in James 
Hutchings’ guilt. He was beginning to enjoy the 
interest he awakened as the storehouse of undivulged 
knowledge. When Mr. Flexen had supposed that he 
would remain silent for a fortnight, he had overes- 
timated both his modesty and his reticence. 

Later in the day the village was further upset 
by the behaviour of James Hutchings himself. He 
came into the “ Bull and Gate ” with an easy air, 
showed himself but little more civil than usual, and 
told the landlord that he had just arranged that the 
parson should publish the banns of his marriage with 
Elizabeth Twitcher on the following Sunday. The 
village was staggered. This was not the way in 
which it expected a man who would presently be 
tried and hanged for murder to behave. 

In all fairness to James Hutchings, it must be 
said that he would not have acted with this decision 
of his own accord. Elizabeth had bidden him to 


232 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

it, urging that a bold front was half the battle. 
However grave her own doubts of his innocence might 
be, she was resolved that such doubts should, if pos- 
sible, be banished from the minds of other people. 
Under her influence he was already becoming his old 
self as far as looks went. A shade of his usual 
ruddiness had come back; he was losing his hag- 
gardness. 

With the going of Mr. Flexen there came a lull. 
His departure was a relief to Olivia, to Colonel Grey, 
and to James Hutchings. Doubtless he was still 
working on the case; but, working at a distance, 
he seemed less of a menace. All three of them 
seemed less under a strain. Olivia and Grey spent' 
their hours together in a less feverish eagerness to 
make the most of them. 

Even Helena Truslove, when Mr. Manley told her 
that Mr. Flexen had left the Castle, said that she 
was very pleased to hear it. She looked very 
pleased. Mr. Manley’s sense of what was fitting 
restrained him from asking her the reason of this 
pleasure. He had, indeed, no great desire to hear 
the reason of it from her own lips. It was enough 
for him to guess that she was the mysterious woman. 
He felt no need of her full confidence. 

The Castle seemed to be settling down to its old 
round, the quieter for the loss of Lord Loudwater. 
His heir in Mesopotamia had been informed of his 
death by cable. But no cable in reply had come 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 233 

from him. Mr. Manley remained at the Castle as 
secretary to Olivia, who was making preparations 
leisurely to leave it and settle down in a flat in 
London. Colonel Grey was recovering from his 
wound with a passable quickness. James Hutch- 
ings had come to look very much his old self. 
Thanks to the shock he had had and thanks to 
Elizabeth, he wore a more subdued air, and was much 
more amiable with his fellow-servants. 

The Daily Wire , the Daily Planet , and the rest 
of the newspapers had let the Loudwater mystery 
slip quietly out of their columns. Mr. Flexen was 
waiting with quiet expectation for information about 
the unknown woman. Since the advertisement the 
papers had given her had failed to produce that in- 
formation he had a London detective working on the 
life in London, before his marriage, of the murdered 
man. Mr. Carrington had found nothing among 
Lord Loudwater’s papers in the office of his firm to 
throw any light on the matter. 

The chief actors in the affair regarded the quiet 
turn it had taken with a timorous satisfaction. 
Not so William Roper; William Roper was thor- 
oughly dissatisfied. He had been willing enough 
to hold his tongue, because by so doing his un- 
expected and damning appearance at the trial 
would be the more dramatic and impressive. But 
he was impatient to make that appearance, and 
chafed at the delay. Also, his prestige was wan- 


234 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

ing. The village was losing interest in the mys- 
tery, and it no longer looked to him to drop 
hints as the holder of the secret. That did not 
prevent him from dropping them. He would bring 
up the subject of the murder in order to drop them. 
His acquaintances who wished now to talk about 
other things found this practice tiresome. They did 
not hide this feeling. Matters came to a climax one 
evening in the bar of the “ Bull and Gate.” 

William Roper dragged the subject of the murder 
into a conversation on the high price of groceries, 
and then, as usual, hinted at the things he could say 
and he would. 

John Pittaway, who had been leading the con- 
versation about the high price of groceries, turned 
on him and said with asperity: “I don’t believe 
as there’s anything you can tell us as we don’t know, 
or you’d ’ave told it afore this fast enough, William 
Roper.” 

“ That’s what I’ve been thinking this long time,” 
said old Bob Carter, who had for over forty years 
made a point of agreeing with the most disagreeable 
person at the moment in the bar of the “ Bull and 
Gate.” 

“Isn’t there? You wait an’ see. You wait till 
the trial,” said William Roper. 

“Trial? There won’t be no trial. ’Oo’s a goin’ 
to be tried? They ain’t agoin’ to try Jim ’Utchings. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 235 

It’s plain that ’er ladyship ’as set ’er face against 
that. And, wot’s more, they can’t ’ave much to try 
’im on, or they’d ’ave to do it, in spite o’ wot she 
said,” said John Pittaway in yet more disagreeable 
accents. 

William Roper was very angry. This was not to 
be borne. Indeed, if John Pittaway were right, and 
there was to be no trial, where was his dramatic and 
impressive appearance at it? He had better be dra- 
matic and impressive now. 

“ Who said as they were goin’ to try Jim ’Utch- 
ings? I never did,” he growled. “ There was other 
people went to the Castle that night besides Jim 
’Utchings, and that mysterierse woman the papers 
talked about.” 

“ An’ ’ow do you know? ” said John Pittaway in 
a tone of most disagreeable incredulity. 

“ I know because I seed ’em,” said William Roper. 

“Saw ’oo?” said John Pittaway. 

Then the whole story he had told Mr. Flexen burst 
forth from William Roper’s overcharged bosom, the 
story with the embellishments natural to the lapse 
of time since its first telling. No less naturally in 
the course of the discussion which followed, he told 
also the story of the luckless kiss in the East wood, 
and the landlord pounced on that as the cause of 
the quarrel between Lord Loudwater and Colonel 
Grey at Bellingham. William Roper supported his 


236 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

contention with an embellished account of the in- 
terview with Lord Loudwater in which he had in- 
formed him of that kiss. 

It was, indeed, his great hour, not as great as 
the hour he had promised himself at the trial, not 
so public, but a great hour. 

He left the “ Bull and Gate ” at closing time that 
night a man, in the estimation of all there, whose 
evidence could hang four of his fellow-creatures, the 
great man of the village. 

Next morning the village was indeed simmering, 
and the scandal rose and spread from it like a stench. 
That very afternoon Mr. Manley heard it from 
Helena Truslove, and the next morning Mr. Flexen 
received two anonymous letters conveying the in- 
formation to him, and suggesting that Colonel Grey 
and the Lady Loudwater had between them made 
away with her husband. It is hard to say whether 
Mr. Manley or Mr. Flexen was more annoyed by 
William Roper’s blabbing. 

But there was nothing to be done. The scandal 
must run its course. Mr. Flexen did not think that 
it would find its way into the papers, local or Lon- 
don. None the less, he was alive to the danger that 
a sudden heavy pressure might be put on the police, 
and he might be forced to take ill-advised action, 
start a prosecution which would do Lady Loudwater 
infinite harm, and yet end in a fiasco which would 
leave the mystery just where it was. The one bright 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 237 

spot in the affair was that Lord Loudwater appeared 
to have left no friends behind him who would make 
it their business to see that he was avenged. As 
long as that avenging was everybody’s business it 
was nobody’s business. 

Elizabeth Twitcher was no less disturbed than 
Mr. Flexen. She felt that Olivia ought to be in- 
formed of what was being said that she might be 
able to take steps to meet the danger. She took 
counsel with James Hutchings, who could not help 
feeling relieved by this diversion of suspicion, and he 
agreed with her that Olivia should be informed of 
the scandal at once. But it was an uncommonly 
unpleasant task, and she shrank from it. 

Then a happy thought came to James Hutchings, 
and he said : “ Look here : let Mr. Manley do it. 

He’s her ladyship’s secretary, and it’s the kind of 
thing he’ll do very well. He’s a tactful young 
fellow.” 

“ It would be a blessing if he did,” said Elizabeth 
with a sigh. She paused and added: “You do 
speak differently about him to what you used to.” 

“ Yes. I made a mistake about him like as I did 
about some other people,” said James Hutchings, 
with a rather shame-faced air. “ He behaved very 
well about seeing me here the night the master was 
murdered and saying nothing to the police about it. 
An’ then he congratulated me very handsomelike 
on coming back as butler before Mr. Flexen.” 


238 THE LOUDWATEE MYSTERY 

“ He would do it better than I should,” said 
Elizabeth. 

“Then I’ll speak to him about it,” said James 
Hutchings. 

He paused a while to kiss Elizabeth, then went in 
search of Mr. Manley. He learned from Holloway 
that he had come in about twenty minutes earlier 
and was in his sitting-room. He went to him and 
found him looking through the MS. of the play he 
was writing, with an unlighted pipe in his mouth. 

“ If you please, sir, I thought I’d better come and 
tell you that they’re saying in the village that 
Colonel Grey kissed her ladyship in the East wood 
on the afternoon of his lordship’s death, and his 
lordship was informed of it and quarrelled with 
Colonel Grey and then her ladyship, and she and 
Colonel Grey made away with his lordship,” said 
James Hutchings. 

“ I’ve heard something about it,” said Mr. Manley, 
frowning, and he struck a match. “ Who set this 
absurd story going? ” 

“ William Roper, one of the under-gamekeepers, 
sir.” 

“William Roper? Ah, I know — a ferret-faced 
young fellow.” 

“ Yes, sir. And we was thinking that her lady- 
ship ought to know about it so as she can put a 
stop to it at once, and you were the proper person 
to tell her, sir,” said James Hutchings. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 239 

On the instant Mr. Manley saw himself discharg- 
ing this unpleasant but important duty with intelli- 
gence and tact, and he said readily : “ I was think- 

ing of doing so, and now that I know the lying 
rascal’s name I can do it at once. The sooner this 
kind of thing is stopped the better.” 

“ Thank you, sir,” said Hutchings, and with a 
sigh of relief he left the room. 

He had reached the top of the stairs when the 
door of Mr. Manley’s room opened; he appeared on 
the threshold and said : “ Will you send some one 

to tell William Roper to be here at nine o’clock to- 
night? And it wouldn’t be a bad idea to drop a 
hint to any one you send that William Roper has 
got himself into serious trouble.” 

Mr. Manley thought quickly. 

“ Very good, sir,” said James Hutchings, and he 
hurried down the stairs. 

Mr. Manley did not see Olivia at once, for she was 
still in the pavilion in the East wood. But as soon 
as she returned, he sent a message by Holloway to 
her, that he wished to see her on important business. 
Holloway brought word that she would see him at 
once. 

He found her in her sitting-room, gazing out of 
the window, and she turned quickly at his entrance 
with inquiring eyes. 

“ It’s a rather unpleasant business, and the sooner 
it’s dealt with the better,” said Mr. Manley in a 


240 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

brisk, businesslike voice. “ One of the under-game- 
keepers has been spreading a scandalous and lying 
story about you and Colonel Grey, something about 
his kissing you in the East wood on the afternoon of 
Lord Loudwater’s death, and he has gone on to sug- 
gest, or assert — I don’t know which — that you 
and Colonel Grey had a hand in Lord Loudwater’s 
death.” 

The blow she had been expecting had fallen, and 
Olivia paled and her mouth went dry. 

“ Which of the under-gamekeepers is it ? ” she said 
calmly but with difficulty, for her tongue kept stick- 
ing to the roof of her mouth. 

“A ferret-faced, rascally-looking fellow, called 
William Roper,” said Mr. Manley with some heat. 
Then, to save her the effort of speaking, he went 
on : “ Of course you’d like him discharged at once. 

The sooner these people understand that their ex- 
citement about Lord Loudwater’s death is not going 
to be held an excuse for telling lying stories the 
better. You will not be troubled by any more of 
them.” 

Olivia looked at him with steady eyes. She had 
recovered herself and was thinking hard. Mr. Man- 
ley’s certainty about the right method of dealing 
with the matter was catching. It was better to 
show a bold front and at once. There was no time 
to consult Antony Grey. 

“ Yes. You’re quite right, Mr. Manley. Gentle 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 241 

measures are of no use with this kind of scandal- 
monger. William Roper must be discharged at 
once,” she said quietly. 

“ Perhaps you would like me to deal with him? 
It’s rather a business for a man,” Mr. Manley sug- 
gested. 

66 Yes, if you would,” she said in a grateful tone. 

“ I will, as soon as I can get hold of him,” said 
Mr. Manley cheerfully. “ He’ll make no more mis- 
chief about here.” He went out of the room briskly. 

His confidence was heartening. When the door 
closed behind him Olivia sobbed twice in the reaction 
from the shock of his announcement. Then she re- 
covered herself and went quietly to her bath. She 
observed Elizabeth’s sympathetic manner as she 
dressed her hair. Evidently all the servants as well 
as the villagers were talking about her. But for its 
possible, dangerous consequences, she was indifferent 
to their talk. She was now wholly absorbed in Grey ; 
he was the only thing of any importance in her life. 

Mr. Manley ate his dinner with an excellent ap- 
petite. He was pleased with the brisk, almost 
brusque, manner in which he had dealt with the 
matter of William Roper, in his interview with 
Olivia. If he had shilly-shallied and hummed and 
haw r ed about the scandal, it would have been so much 
more unpleasant for her. He thought, too, that his 
practical, common-sense attitude to the business 
would probably help her to take it more easily, and 


242 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

he was sure that he had advised the best measure to 
be taken with William Roper. 

He was smoking a cigar in a great content, when 
at nine o’clock Holloway brought him word that 
William Roper had come. Mr. Manley bade him 
bring him to him at a quarter-past. He felt that 
suspense would make William Roper malleable, and 
he intended to hammer him. At thirteen minutes 
past nine he composed his face into a dour trucu- 
lence, an expression to which the heavy conformation 
of the lower part lent itself admirably. 

William Roper, looking uncommonly ill at ease, 
was ushered in by James Hutchings himself, and the 
butler had improved the thirteen shining minutes he 
had had with him by increasing to a considerable de- 
gree his uneasiness and anxiety. 

Mr. Manley did not greet William Roper. He 
stood on the hearth-rug and glowered at him with 
heavy truculence. William Roper shuffled his feet 
and fumbled with his cap. 

Then Mr. Manley said : “ Her ladyship has been 

informed that you have been spreading scandalous 
reports in the village, and she has instructed me to 
discharge you at once.” He walked across to the 
table, took the sheet of notepaper on which he had 
written the amount due to William Roper, dipped a 
pen in the ink, and added : “ Here are your wages 

up to date, and a week’s wages in lieu of notice. 
Sign this receipt.” 


THE LOUDV/ATER MYSTERY 243 

He dipped a pen in the ink and held it out to 
William Roper with very much the air of Lady Mac- 
beth presenting her husband with the dagger. 

William Roper was stupefied. Mr. Manley, 
truculent and dramatic, cowed him. 

44 1 never done nothing, sir,” he said feebly. 

44 Sign — at once ! ” said Mr. Manley, gazing at 
him with the glare of the basilisk. 

44 1 ain’t agoing to sign. I ain’t done nothing to 
be discharged. I ain’t said nothing but what I seed 
with my own eyes,” William Roper protested. 

44 Sign ! ” said Mr. Manley, tapping the receipt 
like an official in a spy play. 44 Sign ! ” 

He was too much for William Roper. The con- 
flict, such as it was, of wills ceased abruptly. Will- 
iam Roper signed. 

Mr. Manley pushed the money towards him as 
towards a loathed pariah. William Roper counted 
it, and put it in his pocket. He walked towards the 
door with an air of stupefied dejection. 

44 Also, you are to be off the estate by twelve 
o’clock tomorrow. Loudwater is not the place for 
ungrateful and slanderous rogues,” said Mr. Manley. 

William Roper stopped and turned; his face was 
working malignantly. 

44 We’ll see what Mr. Flexen’s got to say about 
this,” he snarled, went through the door, and slammed 
it behind him. 


CHAPTER XV 


O LIVIA came that night to her tryst with 
Grey in a great dejection. She perceived 
clearly enough that the instant discharge 
of William Roper would not stop the scandal, and 
she was desperately afraid of the results of it. The 
hope which had sprung up in her mind on reading in 
the Daily Wire the story of her husband’s quarrel 
with an unknown woman died down. This was a far 
more important matter, and she could not see how 
the police could fail to act on William Roper’s story. 

She found Grey waiting for her with his wonted 
impatience, and presently told him about William 
Roper. 

“ This is the very thing I’ve been fearing,” he said 
with a sudden heaviness. 

66 It will certainly force Mr. Flexen’s hand,” she 
said. 

“ I don’t know — I don’t know,” he said more 
hopefully. “ Flexen struck me as being the kind of 
man to act just when it suited him, and I expect 
that he had known all along anything William Roper 
had to tell.” 

“ Yes, he did. Twitcher told me that Roper had 
244 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 245 

an interview with him on the afternoon after Eg- 
bert’s death,” she said, catching a little of his hope- 
fulness. 

“ Well, if he hasn’t done anything about it so far, 
there’s no reason why he should act immediately the 
story becomes common property,” he said in a tone 
of relief. 

“No — no,” she said slowly. Then she sobbed 
once and cried: “But, oh, this waiting’s so dread- 
ful! Never knowing what’s going to happen and 
when — feeling that he’s lying in wait all the time.” 

“ It is pretty awful,” he said, drawing her more 
closely to him and kissing her. 

She clung tightly to him, quivering. 

“ The only thing to do is to stick it out, and when 
the time comes — if it comes — put up a good fight. 
I think we shall,” he said in a cheering tone. 

“ Of course we will,” she said firmly, gave herself 
a little shake, and relaxed her grip a little. 

He kissed her again, and they were silent a while, 
both of them thinking hard. 

Then he said : “ Look here : let’s get married.” 

“ Get married? ” she said. 

“ Yes. The more we belong to one another the 
better we shall feel.” 

“ But — but won’t there be rather an outcry at 
our marrying so soon? ” she said. 

“ Oh, if people knew of it, yes. But I don’t pro- 
pose that they should. We’ll get married quite 


246 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

quietly. I’ll get a special licence. The padre of 
my regiment is in Town, and he’ll marry us. I can 
find a couple of witnesses who’ll hold their tongues. 
We can get married in twenty-four hours. Will 
you ? ” 

“ Yes,” she said firmly. 

His surprise at her ready assent was drowned in 
the joy it gave him. 

The next morning at half-past nine Mr. Manley 
rang up Mr. Flexen at his office at Low Wycombe. 

When he heard his voice he said : “ Good morn- 

ing, Flexen. A young fellow of the name of William 
Roper will be calling on you this morning. I expect 
you know all he has to say already. But do you 
see anything to be gained by his making a pestif- 
erous, scandal-mongering nuisance of himself? ” 

“ I do not. I will say a few kind words to him,” 
said Mr. Flexen grimly. 

Mr. Manley thanked him and rang off. Then he 
sent Hutchings down to the village to let it be known 
that any one who let William Roper lodge in his or 
her cottage would at once receive notice to quit it 
He thought it improbable, in view of the general 
unpleasantness of William Roper, that he would be 
called on to carry out the threat. 

William Roper had already started to pay his 
visit to Mr. Flexen. Mr. Flexen kept him dangling 
his heels in his office for three-quarters of an hour 
before he saw him. This cold welcome allowed much 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 247 

of William Roper’s sense of his great importance in 
the district to ooze out of him. 

Mr. Flexen emptied him of the rest of it. He 
greeted him curtly, heard his story with a deepen- 
ing frown, and abused him at some length for a bab- 
bling idiot, and sent him about his business. William 
Roper returned to his mother’s cottage to find that 
her only object in life was to get him out of her cot- 
tage then and there. She had conceived the idea 
that the whole affair was a plot to have a good ex- 
cuse for giving her notice to leave that cottage. 
She knew well that it was the opinion of all its other 
inhabitants that the village would be much better 
without her and that there were very good grounds 
for it. 

William Roper perceived with uncommon clear- 
ness the truth of Mr. Flexen’s assertion that he was 
a babbling idiot. His dream of outing William 
Hutchings from the post of head-gamekeeper and 
filling it himself was for ever shattered, and he had 
been the great man of the village for little more 
than fourteen hours, ten of which he had spent in 
sleep. He cursed the hour in which he had espied 
that luckless kiss, and too late perceived the folly 
of a humble gamekeeper’s meddling with the affairs 
of those who own the game he keeps. 

The next morning Elizabeth observed that her mis-, 
tress was another creature, almost her old self in- 
deed. The air of strain and oppression had, for the 


248 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

time being at any rate, gone from her face. She 
moved with her old alertness. She even smiled at 
Elizabeth’s strictures on the treacherous William 
Roper. 

After breakfast she bade Elizabeth pack a trunk 
for her, since she was going to London that after- 
noon and would spend the night, perhaps two or 
three days, there. Also, she chose, with frowning 
thoughtfulness and no little changing of mind, the 
frocks she would take with her, and discussed care- 
fully with Elizabeth the changes necessary to give 
them a sufficiently mourning character. 

Elizabeth was indeed pleased with the change in 
her mistress. She ascribed it to the influence of 
Colonel Grey. 

In the afternoon Olivia went to London and drove 
from Paddington to Grey’s flat. She found him 
awaiting her with the most eager expectation. He 
had bought the special licence; the chaplain of his 
regiment and a wounded friend were coming at seven 
o’clock. After they were married, they would all 
four dine together, and, later, he and she would 
return to his flat. 

They had tea, and then he showed her some of 
the beautiful things, for the most part ivory and 
jade, which were his most loved possessions. She 
admitted frankly that she had to learn to appreciate 
and admire them as they deserved. But she was sure 
that she would learn to do so. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 249 

She found the flat of a somewhat spartan sim- 
plicity after Loudwater Castle, Quainton Hall, and 
the houses to which she was used. But she also 
found that it had been furnished with a keen regard 
for comfort. In particular, she observed that the 
easy chairs, which were the chief furniture of the 
sitting-room, were the most comfortable she had ever 
taken her ease in. 

At seven o’clock the padre and Sir Charles Ross, 
Grey’s wounded friend, arrived. After they had 
talked for a few minutes, making Olivia’s acquaint- 
ance, the padre married them. Henderson, Grey’s 
valet, a tall, spare Scot with rugged features who 
in the course of his seven years’ service had acquired, 
in his manner and way of speaking, a curious and 
striking likeness to his master, was the second 
witness. 

It was wholly characteristic of Olivia that she felt 
no slightest need of the supporting presence of a 
woman. Yet, for all the unfamiliar simplicity of 
the scene, the ceremony did not lack dignity, or im- 
pressiveness. At the end of it Olivia felt herself very 
much more the wife of Antony Grey than she had 
ever felt herself the wife of Lord Loudwater. 

They dined in a private dining-room at the 
“ Ritz,” and Olivia found the dinner delightful. 
The three men, after some desultory talk about com- 
mon friends and the ordinary London subjects, fell 
to talking about their work and their fighting in 


250 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

France. She was most pleased by the evident re- 
spect and admiration with which the other two re- 
garded her husband. It was a new experience for 
her to be married to a man for whom any one showed 
respect. 

At a few minutes past ten she and Grey went home 
to his flat. They preferred to walk. 

Olivia did not return to Loudwater for three days. 
Grey did not return till the day after that. Then 
they again spent much of their time in the pavilion 
in the East wood, and since Olivia was careful not 
to replace William Roper, no one knew of their 
meetings. Every week they went to London for two 
days. They lived in an absorption in one another 
which left them little time to be troubled by fears 
of the danger which hung over them. The scandal 
about them ran the usual nine days’ course. Then, 
since no new development of the Loudwater case 
arose to give it a fresh, active life, it died down. 

About a fortnight after their marriage Mr. Man- 
ley retired from his post of secretary and went to 
London. A few days later he married Helena Trus- 
love at the office of a registrar, and they established 
themselves in a furnished flat at Clarence Gate, while 
they furnished a flat of their own. Mr. Manley 
found himself, under the influence of domesticity, the 
stimulation of life in London, and the society of 
the intelligent, writing his new play with all the ease 
and vigour he had expected. 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 251 

Mr. Flexen was beginning, somewhat gloomily, to 
think it probable that the problem of the death of 
Lord Loudwater would have to be set among the un- 
solved problems which have at different times baffled 
the police. Then, before he had quite lost hope, 
there came a letter from Mr. Carrington. It ran: 

“ Dear Mr. Flexen, 

“ I received this morning a letter from Mrs. 
Marshall, of 3 , Laburnum Terrace, Low Wycombe, 
asking me, as the agent of the present Lord Loud- 
water, to have some repairs made to the house in 
which she is his lordship’s tenant. We have never 
handled this property ; we did not even know that it 
belonged to the late Lord Loudwater. If you can 
find the man who managed it for him, he may be able 
to give you the information you want. 

“ Yours faithfully, 

“ C. R. W. Carrington.” 

In ten minutes Mr. Flexen was at 3, Laburnum 
Terrace ; in a quarter of an hour he had learned that 
Mrs. Marshall had paid her rent to Mr. Shepherd, 
of 9, Bolton Street, Low Wycombe; in twenty min- 
utes he had learned from Mrs. Shepherd that her 
husband was in Mesopotamia, and that she had not 
heard from him for two months. In half an hour 
from the time he read Mr. Carrington’s letter he 
was in the train on his way to London. To get in 


252 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

touch with Captain Shepherd in that distant and 
backward land was a matter for Scotland Yard. 
No acting Chief Constable would do so without con- 
siderable delay. 

He drafted the telegram in consultation with one 
of the commissioners, who himself set about the 
business of getting it through to Captain Shepherd 
and receiving his answer to it. Then he returned to 
Low Wycombe. Three days later came a letter 
from Scotland Yard to inform him that Captain 
Shepherd was in an out-of-the-way district in the 
north of Mesopotamia, and that there must be a 
delay of days before he received the telegram and 
sent his answer to it. Mr. Flexen possessed his soul 
in the patience of a man who was sure that he was 
going to get what he wanted. 

A few days later, on a Saturday, his work took 
him to Loudwater, and he called on Olivia. He 
found her a different creature. She had lost her air 
of being under a strain, and save that her eyes were 
at first anxious, she showed herself wholly at her 
ease with him. He came away assuring himself that 
she was one of the most charming women he had ever 
met. He took it that she still met Colonel Grey in 
the pavilion in the East wood, and that after a 
decorous lapse of time they would marry. He 
thought Colonel Grey uncommonly fortunate. 

Then he again wondered what had so perturbed 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 253 

them when he had been at the Castle inquiring into 
the death of Lord Loudwater. What did they know 
of the mystery? What part had they played in 
it? 

Soon after he had left her Olivia went to London 
to spend the week-end with her husband. But she 
did not go in her wonted joyful mood. She tried 
to thrust it out of her mind ; but Mr. Flexen’s visit 
had brought back her old fear. Grey at once per- 
ceived that she was not in good spirits, and he was 
a little alarmed. He had firmly kept his thought 
from the danger which still hung over them. Now 
he caught from her something of her uneasiness. 
But he would not yield to it, and by the end of din- 
ner he had, for the while at any rate, banished it 
from both their minds. 

Then when he awoke that night, quietly, at the 
turning hour, he heard Olivia crying very softly. 

He put his arm round her and said seriously : 
“ What is it, darling? What’s the matter? ” 

“ Oh, why ever did you kill him ? ” she wailed. 
“ He — he wasn’t worth it. And I’d have come to 
you without. And we might have been so happy ! ” 

Grey, with a start, sat bolt upright, and in a tone 
of the last astonishment stammered : “ K-K-Tvill 

him? Me? B-B-But I thought you k-k-killed 
him ! ” 

He had never been so taken aback in his life. 


254 THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 

Olivia sat bolt upright in her turn. 

“ Me? ” she said in an astonishment fully as great 
as his. “ No, I didn’t.” 

Then with one accord they clung to one another 
and laughed tremulously in an immeasurable relief. 

Then Olivia said: “And you didn’t mind? You 
married me when you actually thought I’d murdered 
Egbert? ” 

“ Oh, Egbert ! ” said Grey in a tone of contempt 
which placed the late Lord Loudwater definitely as 
a person the murder of whom was neither here nor 
there. Then he added: “But, hang it all! You 
married me when you actually thought I’d murdered 
him.” 

“ I thought you did it for my sake,” said Olivia. 

“ I thought you did it for mine — to get me out 
of a mess. Though I’ll be shot if I believe I should 
have cared if you’d done it entirely on your own 
account. Not that you could.” 

“ Oh, Antony, how very fond of one another we 
must be ! ” said Olivia in a hushed voice. 

It was after breakfast next morning that Olivia, 
who stood before the window, smoking a cigarette 
and watching the passers-by, turned and said : 
“ But if neither you nor I murdered Egbert, who 
did? ” 

“ The mysterious woman, I suppose,” said Grey, 
with very little show of interest in the matter. 

“ But I never believed that there was any mys- 


THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 255 

terious woman. I thought the papers invented 
her,” said Olivia. 

44 So did I,” said Grey. 44 But it’s beginning to 
look to me as if there might have been one.” 

44 I wonder who she can be? ” said Olivia. 

44 A barmaid, I should think,” said Grey, in 9 , 
tone which placed definitely the late Lord Loudwater 
as a lover. 

“ You certainly do dislike Egbert,” said Olivia, 
in a dispassionate tone of one stating a natural fact 
of little importance. 

44 I do,” said Grey. 

44 It’s odd how little I remember him,” said Olivia 
thoughtfully. 44 But then I was always trying to 
forget him unless he was actually in the room with 
me. And then I was always trying not to see him.” 

44 1 remember the way he treated you,” said Grey 
sternly. 

Olivia smiled at him. 

44 1 hope to goodness the police never do find that 
wretched woman ! ” he said. 

Olivia frowned thoughtfully. Then she smiled 
again. 

44 1 don’t think it would be much use if they did,” 
she said. 44 1 told Mr. Flexen that I heard Egbert 
snoring about twelve o’clock. I didn’t ; but I 
thought that as you went away about half-past 
eleven, it would make it safer for you. I could al- 
ways stick to it, if we thought it right.” 


256 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ And I told Flexen that I didn’t hear him snoring 
at about half-past eleven, and I did. I thought it 
would make it safer for you.” 

“ Well, we are — - — ” said Olivia, and she laughed. 
Then of a sudden her eyes sparkled and she cried: 
“ But if you heard him snore at half-past eleven that 
lets the mysterious woman out. She went away at 
a quarter-past.” 

“ By Jove! so it does,” said Grey. 

Three days later, driving back in the evening from 
Rickmansworth to Low Wycombe, Mr. Flexen passed 
Grey on his way home from an afternoon’s fishing. 
He stopped the car, and as Grey came up to it he 
perceived that he was looking uncommonly well, 
though his limp appeared to be as bad as ever. He 
was not only looking well, he was also looking happy, 
wholly free from care. 

They greeted one another and Mr. Flexen said: 
u By Jove ! you are looking fit ! ” 

“ Yes, I’m all right again,” said Grey. Then he 
frowned and added : " But the nuisance of it is 

that I shall always have this confounded limp.” 

“ You get off more lightly than a good many men 
I know,” said Flexen sadly. 

“ Yes. I’m not grousing much,” said Grey. 

There came a pause, and then Grey said : “ I’ve 

been rather hoping to come across you. When you 
questioned me about my doings on the night of Loud- 
water’s death, you asked me whether I heard him 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 257 

snore as I went through the library, going in and out 
of the Castle, and for reasons which seemed quite 
good to me at the time I told you I didn’t. As a 
matter of fact, he was snoring like a pig when I 
came out.” 

Mr. Flexen looked at him hard, thinking quickly. 
Then he said softly: “My goodness! That would 
be half-past eleven ! ” 

“ Close on it,” said Grey. 

“ Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t believe you,” 
said Mr. Flexen frankly. “ In my business, you 
know, one acquires a very good ear for the truth.” 

Grey laughed cheerfully and said: “ I expect you 
do.” 

“ All the same, I’m glad to have it for certain,” 
said Mr. Flexen, smiling at him. “ Well, I must be 
getting on ; let me give you a lift as far as Loud- 
water.” 

Grey thanked him and stepped into the car. 

When he had set him down, Mr. Flexen drove on 
in frowning thought. Colonel Grey was speaking 
the truth, and in that case neither James Hutchings 
nor the mysterious woman had committed the mur- 
der, unless they had deliberately returned for the 
purpose. He did not believe that James Hutchings 
had returned ; he thought it improbable that the mys- 
terious woman had returned. 

Even more important was the fact that this ad- 
mission of Colonel Grey assured him that neither he 


258 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

nor Lady Loudwater had committed the murder. 
Grey had evidently lied to shield her. He had no 
less evidently learned that she did not need shield- 
ing. That admission had not at all simplified the 
problem. 

The next morning Scotland Yard telegraphed to 
him the reply to its cable to Captain Shepherd. It 
ran : 

Loudwater allowed Mrs. Helena Trusloxe Crest 
Loudwater six hundred a year and gave her Crest. 

He had the mysterious woman at last ! 

He drove over to the Crest at once and learned 
from the caretaker that Mrs. Truslove was now liv- 
ing in London in a flat at Clarence Gate. He could 
not get away from his work till the afternoon, and 
it was past half-past four when he knocked at the 
door of her flat. 

The maid led him down the passage, opened the 
door on the right, and announced him. 

Helena was sitting beside a table on which after- 
noon tea for two was set. She looked surprised to 
hear his name. 

44 Mrs. Truslove? ” he said. 

44 1 was Mrs. Truslove,” she said, rising and hold- 
ing out her hand. 44 But now I am Mrs. Manley. 
You know my husband. He will be so pleased to 
see you again. I’m expecting him every minute.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 259 

Mr. Flexen was for a moment conscious of a slight 
sensation of vertigo. The mysterious woman was 
the wife of Herbert Manley ! 

He could not at once see the bearings of this fact, 
but ideas, fancies and suspicions raced one another 
through his head. 

He checked them and said in a somewhat toneless 
voice : “ I shall be delighted to see him again. 

Have you been married long? ” 

“ Rather more than a fortnight,” said Helena. 
“ But do sit down. My husband will be so pleased 
to see you again. He has a great admiration for 
you.” 

Mr. Flexen sat down and unconsciously stared 
hard at her. Ideas were jostling one another in his 
head. 

“ We won’t wait for him. I’ll have the tea made 
at once,” she said, bending forward to press the 
bell-button. 

“ One moment, please,” he said in his crispest, 
most official voice. “ I’ve come to see you on a very 
important matter.” 

“Oh?” she said quickly, frowning. Then she 
looked at him with steady eyes. 

“ Yes. You know that I am investigating the 
Loudwater case, and I have received information 
that you are the mysterious lady who visited Lord 
Loudwater on the night of his death and had a violent 
quarrel with him.” 


260 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“We began by quarrelling,” she said quietly. 

“ Began by quarrelling? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Yes. I’d better tell you the whole story, and 
you’ll understand,” she said in a matter-of-fact 
voice. “ Rather more than two years ago I was en- 
gaged to be married to Lord Loudwater. He broke 
off our engagement and married Miss Quainton. I 
was not going to stand that, and I was going to 
bring a breach of promise action against him. He 
didn’t want that, of course. It would most likely 
have stopped his marrying Miss Quainton. So he 
agreed to make over the Crest, my house just be- 
yond Loudwater, to me, and pay me an allowance of 
six hundred a year.” 

“ This was two years ago? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Yes,” said Helena. “ But stupidly, though I 
had the house properly made over to me, I didn’t 
have a deed about the allowance. And a few days 
before he committed suicide ” 

“ Committed suicide? ” Mr. Flexen interrupted. 

“ Of course he committed suicide. Didn’t Dr. 
Thornhill say that the wound might have been self- 
inflicted? Besides, poor Egbert had a most fright- 
ful temper.” 

“But why should he commit suicide?” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“ He may have been upset about Lady Loudwater 
and Colonel Grey. Why, I’m quite sure that it 
would drive him mad — absolutely mad for the time 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 261 

being. I know him well enough to be sure of that.” 

“Yes — yes,” said Mr. Flexen slowly. “It’s a 
tenable theory, doubtless. But about your quarrel 
with him.” 

“ A few days before he died he talked about halv- 
ing my allowance. And, of course, I was frightfully 
annoyed about it. I wanted to have it out with 
him — I meant to — but I knew that he’d never let 
me get near him, if he could help it. But I knew, 
too, that he sat in the smoking-room every evening 
after dinner, and generally went to sleep. You know 
everything about every one in the country, you know. 
And I determined to take him by surprise, and I did. 
We did have a row, for I was frightfully angry. It 
seemed so mean. But he stopped it by telling me 
that he had instructed his bankers — we have the 
same bankers — to pay twelve thousand pounds into 
my account instead of allowing me six hundred a 
year.” 

There was just the faintest change in her voice 
as she spoke the last sentence, and it did not escape 
Mr. Flexen’s sensitive ear. He thought that the 
whole story had been rehearsed ; it sounded so. But 
she spoke the last sentence just a little more quickly. 
The rest of the story rang true, or, at any rate, 
truer. 

“ Twelve thousand pounds,” he said slowly. 
“ And did Lord Loudwater tell you when he in- 
structed his bankers ? ” 


262 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

" No. But it must have been that very day. 
The letter must have been in the post, in fact, for 
two mornings later I received a letter from the bank 
telling me that they had credited me with that 
amount — the morning after the inquest, I think it 
was.” 

“ I see,” said Mr. Flexen, and he paused, con- 
sidering the story. Then he said : “ And were you 

surprised at all at his doing this? ” 

“ Yes, I was,” she said frankly. “ It didn’t seem 
like him. But since I’ve wondered whether he had 
made up his mind to commit suicide and wished to 
leave things quite straight.” 

It was a plausible theory, but Mr. Flexen did not 
believe that Lord Loudwater had committed suicide. 

“ I suppose that your husband knows all about 
it? ” he said at random. 

“ He may, and he may not. He hasn’t said any- 
thing to me about it,” she said. 

“ Then we may take it that he did not write the 
letter of instruction to the bankers,” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“ Oh, he might have done and still have said noth- 
ing about it. He has a very sensitive delicacy and 
might have thought it my business and not his. I 
haven’t told him about the twelve thousand pounds 
yet. I don’t bother him about business matters. In 
fact, I’m going to manage his business as well as my 
own.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 263 

44 And he didn’t know about the allowance? ” said 
Mr. Flexen. 

“ Oh, yes, he did. I told him all about that,” 
said Helena quickly. 

Mr. Flexen paused, considering. He seemed to 
have learnt from her all she had to tell. 

There came the sound of the opening of the door 
of the flat and of steps in the hall. Then the door 
of the room opened, and Mr. Manley came in. Mr. 
Flexen’s eyes swept over him. He was looking 
cheerful, prosperous, and rather sleek. His air had 
grown even more important and assured. 

He greeted Mr. Flexen warmly and beamed on 
him. Then he demanded tea. But Mr. Flexen rose, 
declared that he must be going, and in spite of Mr. 
Manley’s protests went. It had flashed on him that 
he might just catch Mr. Carrington at his office. 


CHAPTER XVI 


M R. ELEXEN did find Mr. Carrington at 
his office, and Mr. Carrington’s first words 
were: 

“ Well, have you found the mysterious woman?” 
“ I’ve found the mysterious woman, and she’s now 
Mrs. Herbert Manley,” said Mr. Elexen. 

Mr. Carrington stared at him, then he said softly : 
“Well, I’m damned!” 

“ It does explain several things,” said Mr. Flexen 
dryly. “ We know now why she was so hard to 
find — why there was no trace of her relations with 
Lord Loudwater, no trace of Shepherd’s managing 
the Low Wycombe property among his papers, why 
there were no pass-books.” 

Mr. Carrington flushed and said: “The young 
scoundrel had us on toast all the while.” 

“ Toast is the word,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ I never did like the beggar. I couldn’t stand 
his infernal manner. But it never occurred to me 
that he was a bad hat. I merely thought him a pre- 
tentious young ass who didn’t know his place,” said 
Mr. Carrington. 

“ I’m not so sure about the ass,” said Mr. Flexen. 
264 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 265 

66 No — perhaps not. He certainly brought it off 
for a time, and shielded her as long as it lasted,” 
said Mr. Carrington slowly. 

“ She didn’t need any shielding,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Do you mean to tell me that she didn’t murder 
Loudwater? ” 

“ She did not. You don’t murder a man who has 
just given you twelve thousand pounds,” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“Twelve thousand pounds?” said Mr. Carring- 
ton slowly. Then he started from his chair and al- 
most howled : “ Are you telling me that Lord Loud- 

water gave this woman twelve thousand pounds ! He 
never gave any one twelve thousand pounds! He 
never gave any one a thousand pounds ! He never 
gave any one fifty pounds ! He couldn’t have done 
it ! Never in his life ! ” 

His voice rose in a fine crescendo. 

“ Well, perhaps it was hardly a gift,” said Mr. 
Flexen, and he told him Helena’s story. 

At the end of it Mr. Carrington said with dogged, 
sullen conviction : “ I don’t care, I don’t believe it. 

Lord Loudwater couldn’t have done it.” 

“ But there’s the letter from her bankers,” said 
Mr. Flexen. “ And I suppose you can trace the 
twelve thousand pounds.” 

Mr. Carrington started and said sharply : 
“ Why, that must be where the rubber shares went 
to.” 


266 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“What rubber shares?” said Mr. Flexen. 

“We can’t lay our hands on a block of rubber 
shares Lord Loudwater owned. The certificate isn’t 
among his scrip — he kept all his scrip at the 
Castle — he wouldn’t keep it at his bank. Those 
rubber shares were worth just about twelve thou- 
sand pounds.” 

“ Well, there you are,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ No, I’m not. I tell you I don’t believe in that 
gift — not even in the circumstances. Lord Loud- 
water would a thousand times rather have gone on 
paying the allowance — as little of it as he could. 
There’s something fishy — very fishy — about it, I 
tell you,” said Mr. Carrington vehemently. 

“ And where did the fishiness come in? ” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

Mr. Carrington was silent, frowning. Then he 
said : “ I’ll — I’ll be hanged if I can see.” 

Mr. Flexen rose sharply and said : “ There’s only 

one point in the affair where it could have come in 
as far as I can see. I should like to examine Lord 
Loudwater’s letter of instruction to his bankers.” 

“ By George! You’ve got it,” said Mr. Carring- 
ton. 

“Well, can we get a look at it?” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

“ We can. Harrison, the manager, will stretch 
a point for me. He knows that I’m quite safe. 
Come along,” said Mr. Carrington. 


THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 267 

“ At this hour? The bank’s been closed this two 
hours,” said Flexen. 

“ He’ll be there. It’s years since he got away 
before seven,” said Mr. Carrington confidently. 

He told a clerk to telephone to the bank that he 
was coming. They found a taxicab quickly, drove 
to the bank, entered it by the side door, and were 
taken straight to Mr. Harrison. 

He made no bones about showing them Lord Loud- 
water’s letter of instructions with regard to the 
twelve thousand pounds. Mr. Carrington and Mr. 
Flexen read it together. It was quite short, and 
ran: 

“ Gentlemen, 

“ I shall be much obliged by your paying the 
enclosed cheque from Messrs. Hanbury and Johnson 
for £12,046 into the account of Mrs. Helena 
Truslove. 

“ Yours faithfully, 

“ Loudwatkr.” 

Rather a curt way of disposing of such a large 
sum,” said Mr. Flexen, taking the letter and going 
to the window. 

“ It was the way Lord Loudwater did things,” said 
Mr. Harrison. 

“Yes, yes; I know,” said Mr. Carrington. 
“ Some things.” 


268 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

They both looked at Mr. Flexen, who was examin- 
ing the letter through a magnifying glass. 

He studied it for a good two minutes, turned to 
them with a quiet smile of triumph on his face and 
said : “ I’ve never seen Lord Loudwater’s signa- 

ture. But this is a forgery.” 

“ A forgery? ” said the manager sharply, stepping 
quickly towards Mr. Flexen with outstretched hand. 

“ I’m not surprised to hear it,” said Mr. Carring- 
ton. 

“ Well, the signature is not written with the nat- 
ural ease with which a man signs his name,” said 
Mr. Flexen, giving the letter to Mr. Harrison. 

Mr. Harrison studied it carefully. Then he 
pressed a button on his desk and bade the clerk who 
came bring all the letters they had received from 
Lord Loudwater during the last three months of 
his life and bring them quickly. 

Then he turned to Mr. Flexen and said stiffly: 
“ I’m bound to say that the signature looks per- 
fectly right to me.” 

“ I’ve no doubt that it’s a good forgery. It was 
done by a very clever man,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ A first-class young scoundrel,” Mr. Carrington 
amended. 

“ We shall soon see,” said Mr. Harrison, politely 
incredulous. 

The clerk came with the letters. There were eight 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 269 

of them, all written by Mr. Manley and signed by 
Lord Loudwater. 

The manager compared the signatures of every 
one of them with the signature in question, using a 
magnifying glass which lay on his desk. 

Then, triumphant in his turn, he said curtly: 
“ It’s no forgery.” 

“ Allow me,” said Mr. Flexen, and in his turn he 
compared the signatures, again every one of them. 

Then he said : “ As I said, it’s an uncommonly 

good forgery. You see that the bodies of the letters 
are all written with the same pen, a gold-nibbed foun- 
tain-pen ; the signatures are written with a steel nib. 
It cuts deeper into the paper, and the ink doesn’t 
flow off it so evenly. The forged signature is writ- 
ten with the same kind of nib as the genuine ones. 
Also, the bodies of the letters are written in a foun- 
tain-pen ink — the ‘ Swan,’ I think. The signatures 
are written in Stephens’ blue-black ink. The forged 
signature is also written in Stephens’ blue-black ink. 
No error there, you see.” 

“You seem to know a good deal about these 
things,” said Mr. Harrison, rather tartly. 

“ Yes. I’ve been a partner in Punchard’s Agency 
— you know it; we’ve done some work for you — 
for the last two years. I didn’t need this kind of 
knowledge for my work in India. I only made a 
special study of forgery after joining the agency. 


270 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

A private inquiry agency gets such a lot of it,” said 
Mr. Flexen. 

44 Well, and if there’s an error in these details, 
where is it? It’s not in the signature itself,” said 
Mr. Harrison. 

44 Indeed, it is,” said Mr. Flexen. 44 It’s an un- 
commonly good signature too. The 4 Loud ’ is per- 
fect. But the 4 water ’ gives it away. The forger 
had evidently practised it a lot. In fact, he wrote 
the 4 Loud ’ straight off. But the 4 water ’ has no 
less than five distinct pauses in it — under the micro- 
scope, of course — where he paused to think, or per- 
haps to look at a genuine signature, the endorse- 
ment on the cheque very likely.” 

Mr. Harrison sniffed ever so faintly, and said: 
44 Of course, I’ve had experience of handwriting ex- 
perts — not very much, thank goodness ! — and you 
differ among yourselves so. It’s any odds that an- 
other expert will find those pauses in quite different 
places from you, or even no pauses at all.” 

Mr. Flexen laughed gently and said: 44 Perhaps. 
But he ought not to.” 

44 There you are. And when it comes to a jury,” 
said Mr. Harrison, and he threw out his hands. 
44 Besides, if you got your experts to agree, you’d 
have to show a very strong motive.” 

44 Oh, we’ve got that — we’ve got that,” said Mr. 
Carrington with conviction. 

4< Well, of course that will make it easier for you 


THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 271 

to get the jury to believe your handwriting experts 
rather than those of the other side,” said Mr. Har- 
rison, without any enthusiasm. Then he added, with 
rather more cheerfulness : “ But you never can tell 

with a jury.” 

“No; that’s true,” said Mr. Flexen quickly. 
“ I’m sure we’re very much obliged to you for show- 
ing us the letter.” 

There was nothing more to be done at the bank, 
and having again thanked Mr. Harrison, they took 
their leave of him. He showed no great cordiality 
in his leave-taking, he was looking at the matter 
from the point of view of the bank. The bank pre- 
ferred to detect forgeries itself — in time. 

As they came into the street, Mr. Carrington 
rubbed his hands together and said in a tone of deep 
satisfaction : “ And now for the warrant.” 

“ Warrant for whom? ” said Mr. Flexen in a tone 
of p->IHe inquiry. 

“ Manley. The sooner that young scoundrel is in 
gaol the better I shall feel,” said Mr. Carrington. 

“ So should I,” said Mr. Flexen. “ But I’m very 
much afraid that for Mr. Manley it’s a far cry to 
Holloway. We have no case against him whatever 
— not a scrap of a case that I can see.” 

“ Hang it all ! It’s as plain as a pikestaff ! He’s 
engaged to this woman — this Mrs. Truslove — who 
has a nice little income. He hears that her income 
is to be halved; and we know that if an allowance 


272 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

begins by being halved, as likely as not it will be 
stopped altogether before long. He saw that 
clearly enough. Then in the very nick of time this 
cheque comes along. He sends it to the bank with 
this letter of instructions, and murders Lord Loud- 
water so that he cannot disavow them. What more 
of a case do you want? ” 

“ I don’t want a better case. I only want some 
evidence. It’s true enough that Mrs. Manley told 
me that she told Manley that Lord Loudwater pro- 
posed to halve her allowance. But where’s the evi- 
dence that she talked to him about it? She’d deny 
it if you put her into the witness-box, and you can’t 
put her into the witness-box.” 

“Husband and wife, by Jove! Oh, the clever 
young scoundrel ! ” cried Mr. Carrington. 

“ And that halving of the allowance is the begin- 
ning of the whole business. Manley had made up 
his mind to marry a lady with a fixed income — 
indeed, they were probably already engaged. Loud- 
water upsets the arrangement. Manley restores the 
status quo by means of this cheque and the murder 
of Loudwater. Of course, he hated Loudwater — he 
admitted as much to me — more than once. But if 
Loudwater had played fair about that allowance, 
he’d be alive now. Having established the status 
quo , Manley promptly marries the lady, and closes 
the mouth of the only person who can bear witness 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 273 

that the allowance was in danger and he had any mo- 
tive for murdering Loudwater.” 

Mr. Carrington ground his teeth and murmured: 
“ The infernal young scoundrel ! ” Then he broke 
out violently: “But we’re not beaten yet. Now 
that we know for a fact that he murdered Loud- 
water and why, there must be some way of getting 
at him.” 

“ I very much doubt it,” said Flexen sadly. 
“ He’s an uncommonly able fellow. I don’t believe 
that he’s taken a chance. He wears a glove and 
leaves the knife in the wound, so that there are no 
bloodstains. And consider the cheque. The bank 
wouldn’t have honoured Loudwater’s own cheque, the 
cheque of a dead man, but the stock-broker’s cheque 
goes through as a matter of course.” 

“ Of course,” said Mr. Carrington. 

“ And he has kept the business so entirely in his 
own hands. If we had run in any one else, he’d have 
come forward and sworn that he heard Loudwater 
snore after Roper had seen that person leave the 
Castle. I’m beginning to think that he’s one of the 
most able murderers I ever heard of. I certainly 
never came across one in my own experience who was 
a patch on him,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ Don’t be in such a hurry to lose hope. There 
must be some way of getting at him — there must 
be,” said Mr. Carrington obstinately. 


274 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I’m glad to hear it,” said Mr. Flexen in a tone 
of utter scepticism. 

They walked on, Mr. Flexen reflecting on Mr. 
Manley’s ability, Mr. Carrington cudgelling his 
brains for a method of bringing his crime home to 
him. At the door of his office Mr. Flexen held out 
his hand. 

“ Come along in. I’ve got an idea,” said Mr. 
Carrington. 


CHAPTER XVII 


M R. FLEXEN shrugged his shoulders with 
a sceptical air. He had not formed a 
high opinion of Mr. Carrington’s intelli- 
gence. However, he followed him into his office and 
sat down, ready to give him his best attention. 

Mr. Carrington wore a really hopeful expression, 
and he said : “ My idea is that we should get at 

Manley through Mrs. Manley.” 

“ I’m not at all keen on getting at a man through 
his wife,” said Mr. Flexen rather dolefully. “ But 
in this case it’s manifestly our duty to leave nothing 
untried. Murder for money is murder for money.” 

“ I should think it was our duty ! ” cried Mr. Car- 
rington with emphasis. 

“ And there are three innocent people under sus- 
picion of having committed the murder. Fire away. 
How is it to be done? ” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ The new Lord Loudwater must bring an action 
against Mrs. Manley for the return of that twelve 
thousand pounds on the ground that it was obtained 
from the late Lord Loudwater by fraud — as it cer- 
tainly was,” said Mr. Carrington, leaning forward 
with shining eyes and speaking very distinctly. 

275 


276 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

“ I see,” said Mr. Flexen. But his expression 
was not hopeful. 

“ Once we get her in the witness-box we establish 
the fact that Lord Loudwater had made up his mind 
to halve her allowance, for she’ll have to give the 
reason for her visiting him so late that night; and 
so we get Manley’s motive for committing the mur- 
der also established.” 

“ I see. But will you be able to use her evidence 
in the first trial at the second? ” said Mr. Flexen 
doubtfully. 

44 That’s the idea,” said Mr. Carrington triumph- 
antly. 

44 You think it can be worked? ” 

44 We can have a jolly good try at it,” said Mr. 
Carrington, rubbing his hands together, and his 
square, massive face was rather malignant in its 
triumph. 

Mr. Flexen did not look triumphant, or even hope- 
ful. 

44 But will you get the new Lord Loudwater to 
bring this action? ” he said. 

44 Why, of course. There’s the money for one 
thing, and when he sees how important it is from 
the point of view of getting at Manley, he can’t 
refuse,” said Mr. Carrington confidently. 

44 There isn’t the money — not necessarily. He 
might get back the twelve thousand pounds and have 
to pay Mrs. Manley six hundred a year for forty or 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 277 

fifty years. She’s a healthy-looking woman,” said 
Mr. Flexen. 44 I take it that the late Lord Loud- 
water had property of his own against which she 
could claim.” 

44 Oh, of course, she could do that,” said Mr. Car- 
rington, and there was some diminution of the tri- 
umphant expression. 

44 She would,” said Mr. Flexen. 44 Then you’ll 
have to get over his objection to incurring a con- 
siderable amount of odium. It will look bad for a 
man of his wealth to try to recover from a lady a 
sum of money to which every one will consider her 
entitled.” 

44 Oh, but it was obtained by fraud,” said Mr. 
Carrington. 

44 If you were sure of proving that, it would make 
a difference in the way people would regard it. But 
you’re not sure of proving it — not by a long chalk. 
And you can’t assure your client that you are. 
There’ll be a lot of conflicting evidence about that 
signature, as Harrison pretty clearly showed. If 
you don’t prove it, your client will be landed with the 
costs of the case and incur still greater odium.” 

44 Ah, but he is bound to take the risk to bring 
his cousin’s murderer to justice,” said Mr. Carring- 
ton. 

44 Is he?” said Flexen dryly. 44 What kind of 
terms was he on with his murdered cousin? ” 

44 Well, I must say I didn’t expect you to ask that 


278 THE LOUD WATER MYSTERY 

question,” said Mr. Carrington pettishly. “ What 
kind of terms was the late Lord Loudwater likely to 
be on with his heir? They hated one another like 
poison.” 

“I thought as much,” said Mr. Flexen. “And 
what kind of a man is the new man — anything like 
his dead cousin? ” 

“ Oh, well, all the Loudwaters are pretty much of 
a muchness. But the present man is a better man 
all round — better manners and better brains,” said 
Mr. Carrington. 

“ Better brains, and you think he’ll be willing to 
celebrate his succession to the peerage by a first- 
class scandal of this kind, a scandal which may bring 
him this money, but which will certainly bring odium 
on him?” said Mr. Flexen. 

“ When it’s a case of bringing a murderer to jus- 
tice,” said Mr. Carrington obstinately. 

“ The murderer of a man he hated like poison ? 
I should think that he’d want to see his way pretty 
clear. And it isn’t clear — not by any means. 
For there’s precious little chance of Mrs. Manley’s 
giving Lord Loudwater’s threat to halve her allow- 
ance as the reason of her visit to him that night. In 
fact, there’s no chance at all. Manley will see to 
that. Once attack the genuineness of that signa- 
ture, and you open his eyes to his danger. She’ll 
come into the witness-box with quite another reason 
for that visit, and a good reason too. Manley will 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 279 

find it for her,” said Mr. Flexen with conviction. 

“ But there’s the quarrel. She can’t get over that 
quarrel,” said Mr. Carrington stubbornly. 

“ She’ll deny the quarrel. It’s only Mrs. Car- 
ruthers’ word against hers. Besides, Mrs. Carruth- 
ers heard what she did hear through a closed door. 
It will be so easy to make out that she made a 
mistake.” 

“ You seem to take it for granted that Mrs. Man- 
ley will commit perjury at that young scoundrel’s 
bidding,” snapped Mr. Carrington. 

“ I take it for granted that she’ll be a woman 
fighting to save her husband. And I’m also sure 
that there’ll be precious few mistakes in tactics made 
in the fight. I think that all you’ll get out of the 
trial will be a strong presumption that Lord Loud- 
water committed suicide. I’d bet that that is the 
line Manley will take. And she’ll make a thundering 
good witness for him. She’s a good-looking woman, 
with plenty of intelligence.” 

Mr. Carrington gazed at him with unhappy eyes. 
His square, massive face had lost utterly its ex- 
pression of triumph. 

“ But hang it all ! ” he cried. “ What are we 
going to do? Knowing what we know, we can’t sit 
still and do nothing.” 

“ I can’t see anything we can do,” said Mr. Flexen 
frankly, and he rose. “ You have demonstrated 
that Manley’s position is impregnable.” 


280 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

He took his leave of the dejected lawyer. 

Outside Mr. Carrington’s office he stood still, hes- 
itating. He could have caught a train back to 
Low Wycombe, but he could not bring himself to 
take it. He could not at once tear himself away 
from London and Mr. Manley. He must sleep on 
the new facts in the Loudwater case. He went to 
his club, engaged a bedroom, and dined there. 

Mr. and Mrs. Manley dined at their flat. Mr. 
Manley talked during dinner with elegance and 
vivacity. The maid brought in the coffee and went 
back to the kitchen. 

As he lighted his wife’s cigarette, Mr. Manley said 
in a careless tone : 44 What did Flexen want to see 

you about? ” 

Helena gave him a full acount of her interview 
with Mr. Flexen, his questions and her answers. 

44 I guessed that you were the Daily Wire's mys- 
terious woman,” he said. 44 I saw how frightened 
you were when it came out. But, of course, as you 
didn’t say anything about it, I didn’t.” 

44 That is so like you,” she murmured. 

44 One human being should never intrude on an- 
other,” said Mr. Manley with a noble air. 

44 It might be your motto,” she said, looking at 
him with admiring eyes. She paused ; then she 
added: 44 And I was frightened — horribly fright- 
ened. I couldn’t sleep. I was going to tell you 
about it, but I didn’t like to. You gave me no 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 281 

opening. Then the letter came from my bankers — 
about the twelve thousand pounds — and it made 
it all right. It made it clear that I had no reason 
to murder Loudwater.” 

“ Of course,” said Mr. Manley. “ But in the 
event of any new developments, I should not admit 
that Lord Loudwater talked of halving your allow- 
ance, or that you quarrelled with him. In fact, I 
shouldn’t let Flexen interview you again at all. In 
an affair of this kind you can’t be too careful.” 

“ I won’t let him interview me again,” said Helena 
with decision. 

Mr. Flexen did not try to interview her again. 
But at eleven the next morning he called on Mr. 
Manley. He had very little hope of effecting any- 
thing by the call, though he meant to try. But he 
had the keenest desire to scrutinize him again and 
carefully in the light of the new facts he had dis- 
covered. 

Mr. Manley kept him waiting awhile in the draw- 
ing-room ; then the maid ushered him into Mr. Man- 
ley’s study. Mr. Manley was sitting at a table, at 
work on his play. He greeted Mr. Flexen with a 
rather absent-minded air. 

Mr. Flexen surveyed him with very intent, measur- 
ing eyes. At once he perceived that he had rather 
missed Mr. Manley’s jaw in giving attention to his 
admirable forehead. It was, indeed, the jaw of a 
brute. He could see him drive the knife into Lord 


282 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

Loudwater, and walk out of the smoking-room with 
an ugly, contented smile on his face. 

He had little hopes of bringing off anything in the 
nature of a bluff ; but he said, in a rasping tone : 
“ We’ve discovered that the signature of Lord Loud- 
water’s letter of instructions to his bankers to pay 
that cheque for twelve thousand pounds into your 
wife’s account was forged.” 

Mr. Manley looked at him blankly for a moment. 
There was no expression at all on his face. Then 
it filled slowly with an expression of surprise. 

“ Rehearsed, by Jove ! ” murmured Mr. Flexen un- 
der his breath, and he could not help admiring the 
skilful management of that expression of surprise. 
It was so unhasty and natural. 

" My dear fellow, what on earth are you driving 
at? I saw him write it myself,” said Mr. Manley 
in an indulgent tone. 

“ You forged it,” snapped Mr. Flexen. 

Mr. Manley looked at him with a new surprise 
which changed slowly to pity. Then he said in such 
a tone as one might use to an unreasonable child: 
“ My good chap, what on earth should I forge it 
for ? ” 

“ You knew that he was going to halve Mrs. Trus- 
love’s allowance. You were bent on marrying a 
woman with money. You took this way of ensuring 
that she had money, forged the letter, and murdered 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 288 

Lord Loudwater,” said Mr. Flexen on a rising in- 
flexion. 

“ By Jove! I see what you’re after. It shows 
how infernally silly a schoolboy joke can be! Lord 
Loudwater never talked of halving my wife’s allow- 
ance. That was an invention of mine. I told her 
that he was doing so just to tease her,” said Mr. 
Manley firmly, with a note of contrition in his voice. 

Mr. Flexen opened his mouth a little way. It was 
a superb invention. It left Mrs. Manley free to go 
into the witness-box to tell the story she had told 
him. It knocked the bottom clean out of Carring- 
ton’s case. 

“ What really happened was that Lord Loudwater 
was grousing about the allowance — at being re- 
minded every six months that he had behaved like a 
cad. I suggested that he should pay her a lump sum 
and be done with the business. He jumped at the 
idea. The cheque had come from his stockbrokers 
that morning; he directed me to write that letter of 
instructions to his bankers ; I wrote it, and he signed 
it. There you have the whole business.” 

“ I don’t believe a word of it ! ” cried Mr. Flexen. 

Mr. Manley rose with an air of great dignity and 
said : “ My good chap, I can excuse your temper. 

It was an ingenious theory, and it must be very 
annoying to have it upset. But I’m fed up with 
this Loudwater business. I’ve got here ” — he 


284 THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 

tapped the manuscript on the table — “ a drama 
worth fifty of it. Out of working hours I don’t mind 
talking that affair over with you ; in them I won’t.” 

Mr. Flexen rose and said: “You’re undoubtedly 
the most accomplished scoundrel I’ve ever come 
across.” 

“ If you will have it so,” said Mr. Manley pa- 
tiently. Then he smiled and added : “ Praise from 

an expert ” 

They turned to see Mrs. Manley standing in the 
doorway, her lips parted, her eyes dilated in a grow- 
ing consternation. 

She stepped forward. Mr. Flexen slipped round 
her and fairly fled. 

She looked at Mr. Manley with horror-stricken 
eyes and said : “ What — what did he mean, 

Herbert? ” 

“ He meant what he said. But what it really 
means is that I won’t let him hang that wretched 
James Hutchings,” said Mr. Manley with a noble air. 

Three months later, on the first night of Mr. Man- 
ley’s play, Colonel Grey came upon Mr. Flexen in 
the lounge of the Haymarket, between the second and 
third acts. Both of them praised the play warmly, 
and there came a pause. 

Then Colonel Grey said : “ I suppose you’ve 

given up all hope of solving the problem of Loud- 
water’s death.” 


THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY 285 

“ Oh, I solved it three months ago. It was Man- 
ley,” said Mr. Flexen. 

“By Jove!” said Colonel Grey softly. 

“ Not a doubt of it. I’ll tell you all about it one 
of these days,” said Mr. Flexen, for the bell rang to 
warn them that the third act was about to begin. 

In the corridor Colonel Grey said : “ Queer that 

he should have dropped down dead in the street a 
week before this success.” 

“ Well, he was discharged from the Army for hav- 
ing a bad heart. But it is a bit queer,” said Mr. 
Flexen. 

66 The mills of God,” said Colonel Grey. 

“ Looks like it,” said Mr. Flexen. 


f 




-o 






















- v> 


,0 




v 

° c ^ ♦ 4 

* O 

^ <X~* d> • 

< 0 V ^ - 

0 ^ t • u '__* * *o. 

G * 


4 o. 

* vV^ v) 



> 

*-*o A ,. 

”, w • 

*“ ”» 

■> A v <£» * 

c 0 * ° 

■» o A • 

* A O 

o <0*7*1 v . 

•* *°° %**• .Oil 

C\ ,<y * Y • °* ^ V s s,# ^ A <t> cA j 

^ r, ,A *• • ,-\ /, t ^ * 

* jOCA”o ^ *■ 

‘ ^^ /// >- v<<; v 

• * * - mr ° ^ 

• MKi’ * <v> e> O W Js$L W* * A v V*, 

av ' o * » * ■> ^ 

A” 4 >r.»* < 6 V \d 'c A - a <♦ 

.A 0 °JL° * ^ Cr • »• ' * ♦ *^o < A c 0 w ° -* *<f> 

<r A^SStoO Cr ♦W0fev o A * 

* A ° $P ^ Cl . * 

* - N o 0 ^v ** . <_ 

^A_ * 0 " 0 ° A 0 * * ' 1 # 

v v *, s 

u ° 0 ^ A^ 

* vA V 



• r ^ ,$ «■ 


% 

++ 

•» 




# * <£ \, ”0 

' . 6 ** « • 

, 0 ^ t’^* "*©■> 

* 4> 0 A* o' 

” 5 - ■%. 

.0 ' £ ‘ 



G. \ /• .* 



/ ^ v< 


/ - 4 T ^ •„ 

*'-V 

^ *p cV t 

<A "7 . V» + 

v» 4 N 

• ^ o' 

* A °VS 

/if* O ^ 

^ ,.. °^ *° w ° 






■. •A ,V O, < 0 V , < • «- v' *‘ 

• tr, A* ,VV/« ^ .V 

• ;»®. .vX ri . 

d. -.'^v,* -jr 
1 ^ 5 . 'o . * * A 

, 0 ^ A* • 

A o 




* A ^ ° 


. SE S 




o « o ' . * * A* V ■ o 

* *^ 0 < 



* J A °A 
> .A ^ 



,c 


AV > 

<\y v . ft ^ • . 





*A*?< A 9 * 


«" V& ♦> 

* ^ »£ ♦ 

* A>«* I 

o •*«vr*' / ^ * v 

I , G° V ' 

M". •^-o ‘ 5 :SM? , k. ' 




* • • s 


rr,*’ «r 


, ^°x. 



; ^q* *. 

+ °n * 

> ^\.~; <V 

^ ^ * v dip^ * 

v«* rjfffe: -vpc, 

, V* °vTV ° * aV** 

^ o 'o « * * A, ,a- * T ,.\-' »** 

Lie r* a\ ^ ^ • • * «0 O 

b * ^ C5 A& 6 ° " 0 * <J> ^ . t / » *£» 


;»• .s^'V « 

•> A v 

T q, ’°. V • 



X - <> "•'TV * 1 ,6 

i 4 v ,.<>"»» <f> n V „ . , . 

i» *£ -»VJ t • * 

«i> 0 * at?/r??^ + 

•» 4 

^ o x 


4 o. 

* ' »V> t» 




, ^ V-, 

• 0 A 

° At ^ 

" »• *ft« • 

0 xVv & «• *l\ W „ c 


HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 




DEC 85 


. • 1 ' * * *** A^ V * % 

iW 5 ^* °o * .c 

*oy OATssm*. ^ 


N. MANCHFSTFR. 



4 - 0v * 



^ 0 * 


4 q 


A.* %<v 








